Rasamsonia emersonii is a thermophilic fungus: the fungus only grows in warm environments of at least 45 degrees Celsius. As a result, the fungus is very good at making substances that can withstand higher temperatures. People can make good use of this property: by heating the mold, these heat-resistant substances can be easily extracted from the mold because everything else breaks down. This makes Rasamsonia emersonii an extra useful fungus for humans.
Rasamsonia emersonii is a thermophilic fungus: the fungus only grows in warm environments of at least 45 degrees Celsius. As a result, the fungus is very good at making substances that can withstand higher temperatures. People can make good use of this property: by heating the mold, these heat-resistant substances can be easily extracted from the mold because everything else breaks down. This makes Rasamsonia emersonii an extra useful fungus for humans.
Heat resistant material
One of the substances made by R emersonii is chitinase. This is a substance that breaks down chitin, thus killing other fungi, because fungi have chitin in their cell wall and die when it breaks down. R emersonii uses this to minimize competition from other fungi in its environment. Humans can use chitinase to fight fungal infections. R emersonii is also currently being studied to see if it can produce other useful substances for us. Furthermore, we are looking to see if the genes of this fungus, which cause it to resist heat so well, can be put into another organism. This organism might be able to produce heat resistant material in the future.
Biofuel brewers
Rasamsonia emersonii might also be useful in producing biofuel. These are renewable fuels that can be an alternative to fossil fuels. Among others, grass-like plants can be used to make biofuels, but this process requires the breakdown of plant substances such as xylan (a collective name for specific sugars). Generally, several pretreatments are needed so that enzymes can break down the plant material. Currently, plant material cannot be fully utilized because xylane, a substance commonly found in plants, cannot yet be broken down properly. However, a recent study found that R emersonii produces two specific enzymes that can completely break down the remnants of xylane. Thus, the fungus may help improve biofuel production.
Asexual structures
R emersonii can reproduce sexually as well as asexually. This means that the fungus can have offspring sexually, with half the genes of another, or asexually, with only its own genes. The asexual structures (conidiophores) that the fungus forms are similar to those of Penicillium roqueforti, but have a different specific shape. For example, they have olive-brown conidia (asexually produced spores). These are oval-shaped spores on the end of the stem-like conidiophores.