[HN Gopher] Hacking the genome of fungi for smart foods of the f...
___________________________________________________________________
Hacking the genome of fungi for smart foods of the future
Author : laurex
Score : 67 points
Date : 2024-03-26 16:24 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.sciencedaily.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.sciencedaily.com)
| elevaet wrote:
| This seems like a much more promising avenue than lab-grown meat.
| Fungi are already rich in protein, are a bit closer on the tree
| of life to animals than plants are, are sedentary by default, and
| are absolute chemical powerhouses.
|
| If we can engineer a fungus to produce just the right amino
| profile, or whatever nutrition you're looking for, then you have
| a self perpetuating stock that should be much lower tech and
| simpler to manage than trying to grow muscle tissue in a "petri
| dish".
|
| Heck, we could just be eating more mushrooms, they already are a
| pretty good source of protein.
| baxtr wrote:
| afaik mushrooms contain about 2-3g protein per 100g. Meat has
| about 20-25g.
| elevaet wrote:
| That's true, but because mushrooms are so wet (~90% water),
| if you look at the numbers for dehydrated mushrooms vs meat,
| mushrooms start looking a lot better.
|
| I think dry mushrooms are about 30% protein by weight, which
| is in the ballpark of dry meat.
| IanCal wrote:
| Semi related, I recommend roasting then dehydrating and
| blending mushrooms if you can. Mushroom powder like this is
| an incredible addition to many things, though my kids will
| eat it on its own regardless. A massive pile of mushrooms
| will become a tiny jar of powder.
|
| And less related, lacto ferment them. They're then
| outrageously good fried.
| 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
| Presumably it is still early days for modern agricultural
| fungus selection. I heard a story that thousands of years
| ago, corn had six kernels per cobb(might have been seven).
| Few generations of selective breeding and you produce
| monstrous varieties.
|
| Presumably we could do the same thing with fungus if we saw
| the economic/moral/sustainability incentives.
|
| Edit: an article about ancient corn
| (https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2023/01/24/uf-researchers-
| di...) Teosinte is a small, grass-like plant
| that forms ears of six to eight kernels. Each kernel is
| encased in an acorn-like shell. These encased kernels grow on
| a thin stem, not the thick cob that characterizes modern
| corn. The whole ear is about two inches long, the kernels no
| larger than peppercorns. About 10,000 years ago,
| the Indigenous peoples of what is now southern Mexico began
| selectively breeding teosinte. Over time, those acorn-like
| coverings retracted and formed a cob. Now exposed, the
| kernels were easier to harvest and could be bred for
| increased number and size, Koch said.
| InSteady wrote:
| However, if you compare the energy and resource inputs to
| produce that 2-3g the picture starts looking a LOT more
| competitive. Not to mention a very attractive nutrient
| profile and potential medicinal benefits (eg a lot of
| bioactive tryptophan metabolites).
| fragmede wrote:
| That's the "before" picture. Let's see what these scientists
| can get to with the "after" picture. If they can get it up to
| 50g/100g, I know what I'm eating.
| IanCal wrote:
| There's way more water in mushrooms too. 90+% may simply be
| water.
| Emma_Goldman wrote:
| How far is that from pre-existing products, like Quorn[1],
| which here in the UK is probably the main producer of
| vegan/vegetarian meat simulacra? The problem is that people
| don't like eating straight fungus, and so it is serially
| transformed through elaborate processing, to create meat-like
| products. Which it turns out are extremely unhealthy.
|
| I think you are on more promising ground in your final remark.
| There are plenty of whole food plant-based sources of protein
| that are tested, economical and low-carbon, while possessing
| none of the health drawbacks of 'high tech' alternatives.
|
| [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn
| samatman wrote:
| 100g at 2.3g carbs, 1.7g fat, and 13g protein? What's
| extremely unhealthy about that?
| Emma_Goldman wrote:
| Food, and therefore nutrition, is significantly more
| complicated than a ledger of macronutrients. In this
| particular case, I was getting at this:
|
| https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310
| samatman wrote:
| > _Ultra-processed foods, as defined using the Nova food
| classification system, encompass a broad range of ready
| to eat products, including packaged snacks, carbonated
| soft drinks, instant noodles, and ready-made meals._
|
| I'm not seeing the relevance.
| elevaet wrote:
| > people don't like eating straight fungus
|
| What do you mean? People love eating all kinds of mushrooms!
| Aromasin wrote:
| It should be pointed out that most Quorn products aren't
| vegan. They use eggs as a binding agent.
| lukan wrote:
| "Heck, we could just be eating more mushrooms, they already are
| a pretty good source of protein. "
|
| Definitely, but mushrooms and meat also go very well together..
|
| And I am open towards engineered mushrooms, but I doubt they
| will result in meat. But maybe in something that can convince
| enough people to reduce their meat consumption by eating that
| instead.
| wintermutestwin wrote:
| >a pretty good source of protein.
|
| Unlike many things that are referred to as a "good source of
| protein," mushrooms have a really great macronutrient profile:
|
| 100g of common button mushrooms = 3g protein, 3.3g carb, .3g
| fat
|
| Compared to Lentils (which are the best of the standard foods
| labeled as "good source of protein") 100g = 9g protein, 20g
| carb,.4g fat.
|
| The problem with lentils is that you have to eat a lot of carbs
| to get protein. The ratios are terrible for most other legumes,
| soybeans and nuts.
| slily wrote:
| Poor amino-acid composition is a major problem with non-
| animal protein sources. Every time we think we can "cheat"
| nutrition by reducing nutritional value to a small set of
| cherry-picked nutrients, we find that it leads to
| deficiencies elsewhere. It's like fad diets for technocrats.
| BobaFloutist wrote:
| 100g of Lentils is a lot more food than 100g of mushrooms
| though.
|
| Also, you do need some fat and carbs in your diet to, you
| know, live.
| ijijijjij wrote:
| arent most mushrooms toxic when uncooked though... which adds
| some doubts
| exe34 wrote:
| You can eat any mushroom once!
| begueradj wrote:
| In this 2019 documentary [1], "Fantastic Fungi", it is briefly
| mentioned that fungi played a paramount role in the evolution of
| our brain (intelligence)
|
| [1]: https://www.netflix.com/fi-en/title/81183477
| altairprime wrote:
| Lab-grown _lembas_? Excellent news. (See also: "Sourdough", by
| Robin Sloan.)
| willmadden wrote:
| Do you know what the food of the future sounds like to me? Steak.
| javaunsafe2019 wrote:
| Can you elaborate?
| willmadden wrote:
| Yes, I do not want to eat genetically engineered fungus or
| crickets. I prefer a steak.
| throwway120385 wrote:
| I prefer steak too but I only eat it once or twice a year
| due to the cost.
| orthecreedence wrote:
| And hopefully one day we'll live in a world where steak has
| the incredibly high cost it actually deserves, and people
| like you can spend your hard-earned money on it still while
| everyone else eats the fungi equivalent for pennies on the
| dollar.
| Almondsetat wrote:
| Do you know how steaks are made?
| nelsonic wrote:
| Isn't "hacking fungi" the beginning of the plot of The Last Of
| Us? Let's leverage the genome of cordyceps ... what could go
| wrong?
| 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
| I thought that was a shot at climate change and natural
| evolution of the organism adapting to be tolerant of warmer
| temperatures.
| ktosobcy wrote:
| Didn't they eat lot of fungi-based food on the Expanse? usually
| on the poorer spectrum of society?
| fragmede wrote:
| Framing is everything. Lobster was once for poor people, to the
| point that labor contracts limited how much lobster could be
| fed to workers. Now it's a delicacy.
| throwway120385 wrote:
| Yeah almost everything the belters ate was some combination of
| soy and fungus. It was the only thing that would grow in the
| faint light past Mars.
|
| Looking forward to finally having a recipe for red kibble.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-03-26 23:00 UTC)