Pharmaceuticals from crab shells
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 01:30
in Biology & Nature
The fungus Trichoderma (top left) has been genetically modified so that it can produce valuable pharmaceuticals from chitin Usually, mould fungi are nothing to cheer about – but now they can be used as "chemical factories". Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have succeeded in introducing bacterial genes into the fungus Trichoderma, so that the fungus can now produce important chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. The raw material used by the fungus is abundant - it is chitin, which makes up the shells of crustaceans.