Advancing environmental biotechnology with microbial community modeling rooted in functional 'omics

Area of Science:

• Environmental biotechnology
• Microbial ecology
• Bioprocess engineering

Background:

• Environmental and climate challenges necessitate advanced biotechnologies.
• Microbial communities are central to engineered environmental processes.
• Current bioprocess models often oversimplify microbial community structure and function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review microbial community modeling approaches.
• To highlight the integration of functional 'omics data into models.
• To advance the design and control of environmental biotechnologies.

Main Methods:

• Overview of existing microbial community modeling techniques.
• Discussion of functional 'omics data integration.
• Analysis of model capabilities for predicting emergent properties.

Main Results:

• Conventional models fail to capture the complexity of microbial physiologies and interactions.
• Functional 'omics data offer in situ insights into microbial ecophysiology.
• Integrating 'omics data enhances predictive power for bioprocesses.

Conclusions:

• Advanced modeling incorporating functional 'omics data is crucial for environmental biotechnology.
• This approach can improve the design and optimization of engineered microbial systems.
• Future biotechnologies will benefit from a deeper understanding of microbial community dynamics.