Development of Robust Microbial Communities through Engineered Biofilms
Abstract
The majority of naturally occurring microbes grow as biofilms in mixed communities, also known as consortia. These biofilm consortia are often comprised of a large number of cell types, have complex intercellular interactions, self-organize into complex three-dimensional structures and possess emergent properties like enhanced robustness and productivity. Whereas most current research in synthetic biology is aimed at engineering individual microbes, a new paradigm based on synthetic microbial communities has emerged. Progress towards engineering synthetic communities has been realized, but existing approaches are based largely on well mixed planktonic cultures which lack the fundamental three-dimensional structure of naturally occurring microbial biofilms. We propose to exploit the inherent robustness and productivity of consortial biofilms to develop general strategies for designing synthetic microbial communities. The novelty of our approach is that environmental gradients in carbon sources, oxygen and other electron acceptors will be imposed such that participating species self-organize into tunable three-dimensional biofilm structures. The engineered biofilms will be spatially structured to maximize beneficial metabolite cross-feeding, minimize deleterious species interactions and enhance the synthesis of targeted metabolites. Community engineering will be realized through a combination of biofilm experiments and computational modeling to produce a predictive and general methodology for designing robust consortial biofilms. Our research will culminate with the design of a three species biofilm consortium in which specialist bacteria degrade cellulose, convert released sugars into desirable bioproducts like fuels or materials, and consume inhibitory organic acids despite environmental perturbations and the presence of competing species.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 04, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1610463
Entities
People
- Ross P Carlson
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Montana State University
- United States Army