Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial Communities
Microbial cooperation pervades ecological scales, from single-species populations to host-associated microbiomes. Understanding the mechanisms promoting the stability of cooperation against potential threats by cheaters is a major question that only recently has been approached experimentally. Synth...
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doaj-c1cbf07613f14501a229fd34e13195f22020-11-25T01:01:12ZengMDPI AGLife2075-17292019-02-01912210.3390/life9010022life9010022Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial CommunitiesDaniel Rodríguez Amor0Martina Dal Bello1Physics of Living Systems, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAPhysics of Living Systems, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAMicrobial cooperation pervades ecological scales, from single-species populations to host-associated microbiomes. Understanding the mechanisms promoting the stability of cooperation against potential threats by cheaters is a major question that only recently has been approached experimentally. Synthetic biology has helped to uncover some of these basic mechanisms, which were to some extent anticipated by theoretical predictions. Moreover, synthetic cooperation is a promising lead towards the engineering of novel functions and enhanced productivity of microbial communities. Here, we review recent progress on engineered cooperation in microbial ecosystems. We focus on bottom-up approaches that help to better understand cooperation at the population level, progressively addressing the challenges of tackling higher degrees of complexity: spatial structure, multispecies communities, and host-associated microbiomes. We envisage cooperation as a key ingredient in engineering complex microbial ecosystems.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/9/1/22synthetic microbial communitiesmutualismcheatershost-microbiome interactionssynthetic ecology |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Daniel Rodríguez Amor Martina Dal Bello |
spellingShingle |
Daniel Rodríguez Amor Martina Dal Bello Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial Communities Life synthetic microbial communities mutualism cheaters host-microbiome interactions synthetic ecology |
author_facet |
Daniel Rodríguez Amor Martina Dal Bello |
author_sort |
Daniel Rodríguez Amor |
title |
Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial Communities |
title_short |
Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial Communities |
title_full |
Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial Communities |
title_fullStr |
Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial Communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial Communities |
title_sort |
bottom-up approaches to synthetic cooperation in microbial communities |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Life |
issn |
2075-1729 |
publishDate |
2019-02-01 |
description |
Microbial cooperation pervades ecological scales, from single-species populations to host-associated microbiomes. Understanding the mechanisms promoting the stability of cooperation against potential threats by cheaters is a major question that only recently has been approached experimentally. Synthetic biology has helped to uncover some of these basic mechanisms, which were to some extent anticipated by theoretical predictions. Moreover, synthetic cooperation is a promising lead towards the engineering of novel functions and enhanced productivity of microbial communities. Here, we review recent progress on engineered cooperation in microbial ecosystems. We focus on bottom-up approaches that help to better understand cooperation at the population level, progressively addressing the challenges of tackling higher degrees of complexity: spatial structure, multispecies communities, and host-associated microbiomes. We envisage cooperation as a key ingredient in engineering complex microbial ecosystems. |
topic |
synthetic microbial communities mutualism cheaters host-microbiome interactions synthetic ecology |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/9/1/22 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT danielrodriguezamor bottomupapproachestosyntheticcooperationinmicrobialcommunities AT martinadalbello bottomupapproachestosyntheticcooperationinmicrobialcommunities |
_version_ |
1725210186826645504 |