Harnessing ecological and evolutionary principles to guide the design of microbial production consortia

Bacteria are widely used for commercially producing biomolecules. However, attempts to rationally design production strains and optimize cultivation conditions are frequently counteracted by the emergence of mutants with reduced production characteristics that decrease overall process yield. The reason why these mutants arise is likely because of a mismatch between the ecological conditions under which bacteria evolved in nature and the situation they experience in an industrial setting. Thus, there is a great potential for improving biotechnological production processes by implementing eco-evolutionary knowledge. However, this is often limited by a lack of effective communication between process engineers and microbial ecologists/evolutionary biologists. Here, we highlight recent findings in the field of microbial ecology and evolution and suggest implementation of this knowledge can significantly enhance microbial bioproduction.