Certain types of fungi produce proteins that could, in the future, be used to manipulate the weather via a process known as cloud seeding.
In a study published in Science Advances, researchers explain how proteins secreted by members of the Mortierellaceae family can trigger ice formation at subzero temperatures — a process that could be exploited for use in weather modification and freezing technologies.
Read More: The Ingenuity and Growing Popularity of Cloud Seeding
What Is Cloud Seeding?
While ice can form in temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), spontaneous freezing at temperatures above negative 50.8 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 46 degrees Celsius) tends to be slow, researchers explain in the study. Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that aims to increase a cloud’s ability to produce rain or snow by introducing particles that enhance ice formation at subzero temperatures.
These particles — called ice nucleators — turn the water in clouds into ice crystals. This kickstarts a process: more and more water molecules attach to the ice crystals, causing them to grow larger and heavier until they eventually fall. The ice crystals melt on their journey to the ground, reaching us as rain or snow.
This is not a new technique — according to NOAA, cloud-seeding operations and experiments have been conducted in the U.S. since the 1940s. Typically, the compound used is silver iodide. However, it also happens to be highly toxic.
Could Fungi Be A Better Alternative?
According to the study’s authors, the use of fungi to trigger ice formation has been known since the 1990s. But now, thanks to technological advances, the researchers were able to use gene sequencing and analysis to identify which genes are responsible.
Through this analysis, the team also realized how the fungi acquired the genes in the first place. The results suggest the genes were inherited from an ancestor who obtained them from a bacterial species via horizontal gene transfer, whereby genetic information is shared between organisms that are not parent and child.
This original transfer event would have occurred hundreds of thousands of years ago. Since then, the gene appears to have been modified and improved so that proteins produced are cell-free and water-soluble. This means scientists can harness the protein’s ice-nucleation ability without using the rest of the fungus.
What’s more, the researchers believe that the proteins’ ability to remain efficient and active, even when concentrations are low and conditions are harsh, means they could maintain their function when aerosolized and, therefore, offer a viable method for cloud seeding. Importantly, these proteins appear to be much safer than silver iodide.
“If we learn how to cheaply produce enough of this fungal protein, then we could put that into clouds and make cloud seeding much safer,” Boris A. Vinatzer, a professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech, said in a press release.
Other Uses For The Fungi
The technology has other potential uses. The study’s authors say the proteins could be used in the preparation of frozen food and in the cryopreservation of living tissue and cells, such as sperm and egg cells.
The research could also help inform climate models, as ice crystals in clouds influence the amount of radiation reflected into space and, consequently, the amount that reaches Earth.
“Now that we know this fungal molecule, it will become easier to find out how much of these kinds of molecules are in clouds,” Vinatzer said in a press release. “And in the long run, this research could contribute to developing better climate models.”
The study’s authors argue that future work should explore their potential uses in both a synthetic and real-world context.
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