Arturo Casadevall is a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He spent four decades researching how fungi could both improve and destroy life as we know it. new book, What What If Mushrooms Win?It shows how we can overcome the growing threat.
What first fascinated you about mushrooms?
When I trained as an infectious disease specialist [in the 1980s]The biggest problem we had was AIDS. Patients were not dying from HIV infections [which attack the immune system, leaving it vulnerable to other diseases]They were dying from opportunistic infections, usually fungal. This was the first large-scale human fungal crisis in history. I discovered the wonders of this kingdom when I started studying the medicinal side of mushrooms.
Award-winning series What’s left of us It maps a world where a fungus has triggered the apocalypse. Is it possible?
Improbable but not impossible. We currently do not know of any fungus that can turn a person into a zombie. But I have no doubt that over time we will see the emergence of dangerous new fungal pathogens. In fact, we are already seeing this happen. So who knows?
Fungi produce potent toxins, so they are considered biological warfare agents.
You describe the climate in your book. Crisis is a big risk for fungi that develop beyond our control. Why?
As temperatures increase, everything around us is affected; There is no reason to believe that mushrooms will be an exception. As modern medicine paradoxically creates more people vulnerable to new fungal infections, there is growing evidence that some fungi have the potential to introduce new diseases that will harm many more people in ways never seen before.
What if fungi could adapt to higher temperatures? They were going to jump over our defenses. So will we see many more fungal diseases? That’s what fear is.
Has this already happened?
candida auris It was unknown to medicine until it was removed from a person’s ear in Japan in 2007. And a few years later, in 2010, 2011, 2012, it appeared independently on three continents. [South America, Africa and the Indian subcontinent].
So we have a medical mystery. We have an organism that medicine knows nothing about. One of the things we suggest is that this may be the first fungus to break through our thermal barriers. [most fungi cannot survive at 37C degrees, the body’s internal temperature] After adapting to higher temperatures. This is likely the first example of a new fungal disease caused by climate change.
Can mushrooms be used well?
Fungi are critical elements for life on Earth. They provide us with benefits in foodstuffs; You can’t drink wine without cork, you can’t ferment without cork. They are the source of groundbreaking drugs such as penicillin and statins. Innovators are using mushrooms to make vegan leather car seats and building materials. Others use them to decompose the plastics that fill our landfills. Going forward, these could be sources of new materials, things that could make our daily lives better.
Could they be used for worse purposes?
You always worry that you will engineer organisms for evil. I don’t know if this has been done by anyone. But definitely [for] Being so large, so diverse, and with so many powerful species, this kingdom needs to be on the radar; bad actors can exploit this in some way. They produce potent toxins, so they are considered biological warfare agents. Mushrooms have their uses, but overall their benefits and potential benefits far outweigh any negatives.
How can they be used for biological warfare?
Most fungi are spore-forming, and spores are designed to be carried on the wind. Usually when humans engage in biological warfare they have to modify the organism to be dispersed through the air. Mushrooms arrive ready to be dispersed through the air.
Could they cause an epidemic?
Humanity has no experience with fungal epidemics, but other species do. Amphibians are being wiped out by a fungus that has spread across all continents. So, if a fungus can do this to amphibians that have existed for millions of years and have good immune systems like us, then I think it would be arrogant to think that nothing can happen to us. We have a huge blind spot when it comes to the diseases and toxins that fungi can carry.
What are the biggest challenges in the fight against fungi?
Because fungi are our closest relatives, it is difficult to find drugs that will kill them and not harm us. Then comes the economic explanation. Many fungal diseases are not that common [as others]If you’re a pharmaceutical company and you’re thinking about where to put your money, usually [make the decision] by market size. Progress is being made, but we still have a long way to go.
Relating to: ‘The situation has become dire’: Fake scientific papers push credibility of research to crisis point
In terms of your own research, what are you most excited about?
It turns out that most fungi produce melanin, the same melanin found in our skin. This melanin has many properties that can be used. For example, melanin is a natural shield against radiation. [It] It’s almost like science fiction, but we’re working with NASA collaborators on the idea that melanin from fungi could be used to provide protection for spacecraft.
I’m also excited about some of the progress we’ve made in understanding how fungi cause disease. If you understand the mechanisms you can intervene in them, and if you can intervene in them you can help people.
You mentioned that the rise of fake research is driven by “fake data and sloppy science.””. How common is the problem?
I have long worried that science is not working as it should. We have done studies showing that there is a withdrawal epidemic. Why? We learned that there was a significant amount of abuse. This is absolutely unacceptable.
I look at this almost like an existential problem. If science does not work, it will not be able to provide humanity with the tools it needs. And if people lose their trust in us [scientists], they will cut funding and then everything will go into a downward spiral. Less funding, less science, fewer solutions.
The name of the book What If Mushrooms Win? What about them? To do earning?
I think they already won. And I think if they win, we win too.