[Synthetic microbiome design: applications and challenges from theoretical construction to environmental...

As artificially constructed microbial communities with specific functions, synthetic microbiomes have shown great application potential in bioremediation in recent years. Compared with single strains, synthetic microbiomes have significant advantages in mineralizing complex pollutants and simultaneously metabolizing multiple pollutants. The construction of synthetic microbiomes involves various strategies and methods, which contribute to the design of microbial communities with diverse functions and adaptability to different environments. Conventional experiment-based studies on synthetic microbiomes often struggle to systematically elucidate the complex metabolic interactions among microbial community members, which limits the design and application of synthetic microbiomes. Genome-scale metabolic model (GSMM) technology has paved new avenues for the design, construction, and functional optimization of synthetic microbiomes. This review concentrates on the advantages of synthetic microbiomes in bioremediation and the current theories and strategies involved in the design and construction of synthetic microbiomes, and highlights the application potential of GSMMs in the design of synthetic microbiomes and the bioremediation of polluted environments. This paper can provide a theoretical basis and technical support for the research on synthetic microbiomes and their application in environmental bioremediation.