Solutions in microbiome engineering: prioritizing barriers to organism establishment

Area of Science:

• Microbiome Engineering
• Ecology
• Synthetic Biology

Background:

• Microbiome engineering uses microbial inoculants to address health, agriculture, and climate challenges.
• Inoculants frequently fail to establish or provide lasting ecosystem modifications.
• Existing research often overlooks barriers to microbial establishment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key barriers to microbial inoculant establishment in microbiome engineering.
• To propose a framework for improving microbial inoculant success by considering ecological principles.
• To highlight the underappreciated role of biotic interactions in microbiome engineering.

Main Methods:

• Adopting a framework from invasion biology and restoration ecology.
• Categorizing establishment barriers into propagule pressure, environmental filtering, and biotic interactions.
• Analyzing the current state of microbiome engineering research regarding these barriers.

Main Results:

• Microbiome engineering efforts frequently neglect critical establishment barriers.
• Biotic interactions represent a significantly under-researched factor in microbial inoculant success.
• A framework integrating macroecology principles can guide future microbiome engineering strategies.

Conclusions:

• Failure to address establishment barriers, particularly biotic interactions, limits microbiome engineering efficacy.
• Incorporating ecological insights, especially regarding species interactions, is crucial for successful microbiome engineering.
• Further research prioritizing biotic interactions will accelerate the development of effective microbiome engineering solutions.