From microbiome composition to functional engineering, one step at a time

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Systems Biology
• Ecology

Background:

• Microbiomes are crucial for agriculture, health, and climate, but their complexity challenges mechanistic understanding.
• Current sequencing methods identify microbial composition but lack functional insights into strain-level interactions.
• Predicting and controlling microbiome function, especially in cases of dysbiosis, remains difficult.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a systematic approach, the N+1/N-1 concept, for dissecting microbiome assembly and function.
• To enable step-by-step interventions for introducing or eliminating specific microbial strains.
• To provide a framework for understanding microbiome dynamics and developing targeted manipulation strategies.

Main Methods:

• The N+1/N-1 concept involves selecting culturable, genetically accessible microbes with known genomes.
• It tracks the proliferation or decline of individual strains in synthetic or natural microbiomes.
• Combines classical microbiology, omics technologies, and mathematical modeling.

Main Results:

• The N+1/N-1 concept facilitates the detailed analysis of individual strain contributions to microbiome outcomes.
• It allows for the precise study of how adding or removing a single strain affects the entire community.
• Provides benchmarks for analyzing microbiome structure and function.

Conclusions:

• The N+1/N-1 concept is a powerful tool for deciphering complex microbiome mechanisms.
• It enables precise microbiome interventions, moving beyond correlative studies.
• This approach is essential for advancing microbiome research and applications in various fields.