Researchers Develop Programmable Living Textiles from Fungal Mycelium

Fungal mycelium is a promising renewable material, but conventional processing generally eliminates the living activity that could support growth, repair, and environmental response.

A team led by Dr. ZHONG Chao from the State Key Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a flexible living textile based on Cordyceps militaris.

The study was published in Science Advances on July 24, 2026.

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 paleblue, red, orange, and purple colors, while nutrient-induced aerial hyphae enabled patterned growthand 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. As the authors noted, "beyond textile analogs, this paradigm provides a foundation for the broader development of adaptive, living material platforms across biomedical, environmental, and architectural domains."

Prototype apparel fabricated from living textiles.(Image by SIAT)