Researchers at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a flexible living textile based on fungal mycelium.
The fabric can clean and repair itself, opening the door to recyclable fashion and biodegradable packaging.
Fungal mycelium is a promising renewable material, but conventional processing generally eliminates the living activity that could support growth, repair, and environmental response.
The researchers grew C. militaris in liquid culture, where it formed spherical mycelial pellets composed of intertwined fungal filaments.
After being collected and placed into moulds, the pellets naturally bonded during mild drying to form free-standing sheets without additional scaffolds or adhesives.
Glycerol treatment reduced the brittleness of the dried sheets, allowing them to be folded, cut, and sewn. A rope twisted from four narrow strips could support a one-kilogram weight.
The team also introduced additional biological functions. Engineered yeast cells generated pale blue, red, orange, and purple colors, while nutrient-induced aerial hyphae enabled patterned growth and self-cleaning surfaces.
Melanin-rich aerial hyphae from Aspergillus niger further provided ultraviolet protection. Under humid, nutrient-rich conditions, some cells could become active again, enabling regrowth and repair; in soil composting tests, the material almost completely degraded in just over 40 days.
The researchers assembled the functionalized sheets into a prototype dress, demonstrating that the material could be shaped and sewn into larger structures.
Further work is needed to improve manufacturing consistency, washability, abrasion resistance, and control over biological activation.
Beyond textile analogues, this paradigm provides a foundation for the broader development of adaptive, living material platforms across biomedical, environmental, and architectural domains.
Image courtesy: Freepik
