New iCULTURE Scientific Review Explores How Microbial Teamwork Can Support Sustainable Bioproduction
The EU-funded iCULTURE project presents a scientific review in “Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology”, exploring how carefully designed teams of microorganisms can work together to turn renewable resources into valuable bio-based products.
Titled “Cooperativity in microbial biotechnology: synthetic consortia as emerging metabolic engineering strategy for sustainable bioproduction”, the publication is authored by iCULTURE partners Prof. Dr. F. Gizem Avci and Prof. Volker F. Wendisch, affiliated with Bielefeld University, Germany.
Many industrial fermentation processes rely on a single microorganism to carry out all the steps needed to make a product. But what if these tasks could be shared? Much like people working in a team, different microorganisms can contribute different skills to achieve a common goal. For example, one microorganism can break down a complex raw material into simpler substances, which another then uses to produce a valuable compound. These deliberately assembled microbial teams are known as microbial consortia.
Inspired by cooperation found in nature, this division of labour can reduce the number of tasks each microorganism needs to perform. However, successful teamwork is not automatic: exchanging substances requires energy, and the partners must remain productive and able to coexist throughout the fermentation process.
The review examines how researchers can design and maintain these communities, including partnerships in which one microorganism supports another or both benefit from the substances they exchange. Making microbial cooperation stable and reliable is essential for translating this approach into practical industrial applications.
This work is directly relevant to iCULTURE, which uses microbial consortia to convert seaweed-derived resources into valuable bio-based products. By guiding the development of microbial strains that can work effectively together, the publication supports the project’s ambition to build more efficient fermentation processes and a sustainable, circular seaweed value chain.