Fungi controlled without fungicides or antifungals

As well as causing fatal diseases in humans, fungi devastate food crops and spoil valuable products and materials, which has led to an antifungals/fungicide industry worth around $30bn globally. There are, however, tight regulations around the use of fungicides and antifungals and there is also growing resistance of fungi to these agents.

Texas team turns graphene into bacteria-killing filter

In a paper published in Science Advances, experts from Nottingham University's Schools of Life Sciences, Pharmacy, and Engineering, show how they have developed a solution to tackle fungi by passively blocking fungal attachment to surfaces using a coating of (meth)acrylate polymers.

Through previous work, the team found different combinations of fungicides which worked against fungi and also produced new understanding of preservative action against spoilage fungi.

Although these advances meant less use of certain fungicides and chemicals, frequent tightening of regulations around usage are restricting the take up of technologies that still rely on bioactive agents, while spread of resistance worsens the problem. Consequently, potential bioactive-free technologies for combatting fungi are highly attractive to the industry.