近日，美国明尼苏达大学双子城分校Peter K. Kang团队揭示了丝状真菌控制多孔介质中的多相流动和流体分布。2025年9月1日，《自然—物理学》杂志发表了这一成果。

丝状真菌在全球碳和养分循环、土壤碳固存、农业土壤管理、污染物命运和运输、工程材料的生物污染和人类健康等方面发挥着至关重要的作用。尽管这些过程通常涉及多孔介质中的多个流体相，但人们对真菌调节流体流动的机制仍然知之甚少，这限制了他们预测和利用真菌介导过程的能力。多孔介质的复杂性和不透明性进一步模糊了他们对真菌如何影响流体流动和分布的理解。

研究组探讨了丝状真菌对多相流动和流体再分配的影响，使用双孔隙微流控芯片，其特点是在致密孔隙介质中嵌入一个流动通道。它们的孔隙尺度可视化结果表明，丝状真菌可以通过局部堵塞和菌丝诱导的孔隙侵入，积极诱导多孔介质中多相流动，调动被困流体相，增加油水界面面积和流体相的重新分配。该研究揭示了丝状真菌调节流体流动和分布的机制，为利用真菌过程增强生物修复和碳封存等应用提供了见解。

附：英文原文

Title: Filamentous fungi control multiphase flow and fluid distribution in porous media

Author: Lee, Sang Hyun, Moura, Marcel, Srivastava, Shreya, Santelli, Cara, Kang, Peter K.

Issue&Volume: 2025-09-01

Abstract: Filamentous fungi play crucial roles in global carbon and nutrient cycling, soil carbon sequestration, agricultural soil management, contaminant fate and transport, biofouling of engineered materials and human health. Although these processes typically involve multiple fluid phases in porous media, the mechanisms by which fungi regulate fluid flow remain poorly understood, limiting our ability to predict and harness fungus-mediated processes. The complexity and opacity of porous media further obscure our understanding of how fungi influence fluid flow and distribution. Here we explore the impact of filamentous fungi on multiphase flow and fluid redistribution using a dual-porosity microfluidic chip, featuring a flow channel embedded within tight porous media. Our pore-scale visualizations show that filamentous fungi can actively induce multiphase flow and mobilize trapped fluid phases in porous media through localized clogging and hyphal-induced pore invasion, enhancing the oil–water interfacial area and redistribution of fluid phases. This study reveals the mechanisms by which filamentous fungi modulate fluid flow and distribution, offering insights into harnessing fungal processes to enhance applications such as bioremediation and carbon sequestration.

DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03020-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03020-6