Cell wall engineering-guided strategy for high-efficiency biosynthesis of nutrient-fortified Fusarium venenatum mycoprotein

Fusarium venenatum (F. venenatum) mycoprotein is an effective solution to the worldwide protein crisis, however, the efficacy in substrate conversion, protein biosynthesis, and nutrient digestion is limited by redundant components like chitin. In this study, the F. venenatum cell wall was streamlined through genetic engineering by deleting the Chs encoding chitin synthase. The results showed that compared with the wild-type (WT) strain, the protein content of the engineered strain (ΔFvChs, FC02) increased from 35.30 % to 54.12 %, chitin content dropped from 8.56 % to 6.29 %. The glucose-protein conversion rate of FC02 was higher than WT in the 20 L fermenter. During in vitro dynamic digestion, the gastric half-emptying time of FC02 mycoprotein was 10.48 min faster than WT, with significantly higher protein digestibility and essential amino acid index. These results suggest that the mycelial structure can be genetically engineered to create functional foods with controlled digestibility, while guiding the production of high-quality mycoproteins.