About this Research Topic

Background

The presence of functional differentiation and metabolic exchange in microbial co-cultures (also called consortia) allows for complex metabolism and such consortia are found in many diverse environmental niches. Inspired by cooperative relationships of microbial consortia in the environment, synthetic microbial consortia are of interest for studying microbial interactions in nature and have applications in engineering. However, such technologies are far from being fully harnessed and the molecular mechanisms of microbial interactions needs thorough understanding.

We can further our understanding with the assistance of the revolution in the integration of synthetic biology with metabolic engineering at the community level. This is vital to applying system-level approaches to building and optimizing synthetic consortia for bioprocessing applications in improving crops yields; soil fertility; bioremediation; biofuels; and natural products/secondary metabolites production. Bioprospecting applications in the bioconversion of agricultural and industrial wastes, such as crop residues and food waste, into value-added products like biofuel, biofertilizer etc., aids development of sustainable bioeconomy. Essential for a circular bioeconomy is the utilization of every side stream to minimize agricultural and industrial waste production. Research focused on recycling supplemented with synthetic microbial consortia tools works toward the development of new value chains for waste products. This could increase demand for up-cycling of wastes, driven by rising consumer awareness concerning sustainability issues and shall urge the private sector to invest in circular bioeconomy.

Engineering microbial co-cultures represents a new frontier for the synthetic biology of microbial engineering that could help achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). More academics are creating sophisticated techniques for building stable and regulable co-cultures to meet their applications in agriculture, the environment, and industry.

This Research Topic focuses on studies concerning :

• New insights into the in design, analysis, and application of synthetic microbial co-cultures for bioprocessing.

• Engineering microorganism competitiveness as bio-based emerging strategies for sustainable agriculture.

• Microbial co-cultures as a premise for application in bio-economy.

Keywords: Synthetic consortia, metabolic engineering, microbial consortia, industrial biotechnology, environment

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