Other than check up on my agar plates last week, I also had the chance to put together a bag of growing medium (compost) for the mushrooms to grow on. This is the very first step Ecovative scientists perform when creating their mushroom product. What one does to create this medium is first insert into a sterilized bag a sufficient amount of straw, corn cobs, etc... and on top of that add pure grain spawn on top. Next, one throughly mixes the two ingredients together to fully inoculate the grain. Then the bag is tightly sealed and left to grow.
Unlike flowering plants, all mushrooms grow from tiny spores rather than seeds. (Plants that grow from spores are called fungi). Due to the fact that mushrooms have no chlorophyll to obtain nutrients by they must get their nutrients from organic matter in their environment--this is most often called compost, a combination of various materials like corn cobs and straw. This goes back to the point I made in my very first post concerning the eco-friendly production at Ecovative. This company is planet-friendly even in the sense that the ingredients needed to create their products are what many consider "waste." Ecovative uses the surplus of leftover corn cobs, straw, seed hulls, etc... that are left over after harvest season to create their compost for the mushrooms to grow on. A full-grown mushroom will produce many many spores (ie: 16 billion) and they must then be collected in a sterile environment, like the lab Ecovative scientists work in.
Thus, coming in this past Wednesday, I found the two bags of compost I put together fully cultured. When before the bags looked like a batch of straw compressed together, now it gave off a white appearance, indicating that the fungi had grown as predicted. As shown in the picture to the left, the white mycelia colonized the entire compost--this visible growth of the fungi can be used as an indicator of its life cycle stage and health.
Each week, I advance through the steps Ecovative scientists perform routinely to create their various products and each week I can't wait to see what the next procedure is! I am also really excited to see how my very own Styrofoam-like mushroom packaging product will turn out!
After reading your previous posts as well as this one, I'm fascinated by how our tasks overlap but are very dissimilar at the same time. I'm a little confused on why exactly you have to grow the mushroom on the agar plates - is it just to see how pervasive and how much the mycelium will grow? Or is it merely a starting stage of all the grain spawn? If so, this is really enlightening - I use the grain spawn every week to mix with substrate to pack into tools. I'm rather amused by the fact that we've both gotten called out during our work in the sanitary laminar flow hood; it is quite difficult to remember certain steps and do's and don'ts when trying to keep the area clean.
ReplyDeleteMore generally, I love the fact that you're supplementing your posts with pictures. Agar and the growth of mycelium is difficult to describe, and you've done wonderfully well in describing your step-by-step. I would like to see more explanation/emphasis on the purpose of what you do - perhaps I just missed it somewhere. From what you told me in our discussion it seems like you're involved directly in the industrial process of making their actual product. Maybe you could pull back and put what you're doing more in that context? I think that would really round off your blog posts.
I love learning about what you're doing at the same company - it truly gives another face into what they do and gives me a little more insight on all the happenings that occur while I'm working there as well!
Great post, Katie. Thanks for the effort!
DeleteHey Katie,
DeleteYou don't necessarily NEED to grow the mushroom on the agar plates, but it is convenient for those who want to clone mushrooms and isolate substrains from fruiting mushrooms to store in their culture library. Another advantage to using agar plates is that nutrients and other growth media can be mixed together into the Agar liquid. For example, for one batch of agar plates, my mentor could combine the liquid with a chemical that inhibits the growth of certain organisms while promoting the growth of others. Consequently, because scientists at Ecovative constantly experiment with various different combinations of ingredients to produce different durabilities, textures, etc... of their products, using agar plates makes their life a whole lot easier.
Also, thanks for the great advice! :D
Christi, your reference to a previous post is very useful. It connects the work that you are working on, and illustrates the progress that you have made so far.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on being so good with mushrooms already. Sterile technique and culturing organisms can be a tricky business, but you seem to be a natural. Does that mean you have a green thumb? Or a white thumb, as the case may be???