Solutions in microbiome engineering: Prioritizing barriers to organism establishment

The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology
By: , and 

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Abstract

Microbiome engineering is increasingly being employed as a solution to challenges in health, agriculture, and climate. Often manipulation involves inoculation of new microbes designed to improve function into a preexisting microbial community. Despite, increased efforts in microbiome engineering inoculants frequently fail to establish and/or confer long-lasting modifications on ecosystem function. We posit that one underlying cause of these shortfalls is the failure to consider barriers to organism establishment. This is a key challenge and focus of macroecology research, specifically invasion biology and restoration ecology. We adopt a framework from invasion biology that summarizes establishment barriers in three categories: (1) propagule pressure, (2) environmental filtering, and (3) biotic interactions factors. We suggest that biotic interactions is the most neglected factor in microbiome engineering research, and we recommend a number of actions to accelerate engineering solutions.

Suggested Citation

Albright, M., Louca, S., Winkler, D.E., Feeser, K.L., Haig, S., Whiteson, K.L., Emerson, J.B., and Dunbar, J.M., 2022, Solutions in microbiome engineering: Prioritizing barriers to organism establishment: The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, v. 16, p. 331-338, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-021-01088-5.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Solutions in microbiome engineering: Prioritizing barriers to organism establishment
Series title The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology
DOI 10.1038/s41396-021-01088-5
Volume 16
Publication Date August 21, 2021
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher Nature
Contributing office(s) Southwest Biological Science Center
Description 8 p.
First page 331
Last page 338
Additional publication details