Bacterial cellulose-Morchella sextelata mycelium composite disks as scalable, bioactive scaffolds: A promising...

Cultured meat, as an emerging method for obtaining protein, is receiving widespread attention. Developing biocompatible, edible scaffolding materials is a critical bottleneck for the industrialization of cultured meat. In this study, we developed a series of microbia-derived, biomass-based composite disk carriers by integrating bacterial cellulose (BC) with mycelium (Myc) from Morchella sextelata via a facile and minimally-processed blend-casting method. This composite is a potential, low-cost alternative to traditional BC-mushroom chitosan (BCMC) carriers in our previous work. Results indicated that mycelial integration enriched the surface with nitrogen-containing functional groups and optimized wettability to a range of 68°-76°. The resulting micro-nano topology provided robust mechanical interlocking, which correlated with reduced cell sheet detachment compared to BCMC benchmarks. Biological assays demonstrated that BC-Myc disks significantly accelerated the proliferation of C2C12 and DF-1 cells, achieving near 100% confluence within 5 days. Immunofluorescence revealed that the carriers supported mature C2C12 myogenic differentiation with continuous, multi-nucleated fibers and promoted DF-1 adipogenic transdifferentiation with high fatty acid synthase expression. Overall, BC-Myc disks outperformed BCMC in supporting tissue maturation and interfacial stability. This work establishes a scalable, low-cost, and circular economy strategy for fabricating scaffolding biomaterials, providing a promising proof-of-concept platform for cultured meat production.