Engineering microbial consortia: a new frontier in synthetic biology.
Journal Article (Review;Journal Article)
Microbial consortia are ubiquitous in nature and are implicated in processes of great importance to humans, from environmental remediation and wastewater treatment to assistance in food digestion. Synthetic biologists are honing their ability to program the behavior of individual microbial populations, forcing the microbes to focus on specific applications, such as the production of drugs and fuels. Given that microbial consortia can perform even more complicated tasks and endure more changeable environments than monocultures can, they represent an important new frontier for synthetic biology. Here, we review recent efforts to engineer synthetic microbial consortia, and we suggest future applications.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Brenner, K; You, L; Arnold, FH
Published Date
- September 2008
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 26 / 9
Start / End Page
- 483 - 489
PubMed ID
- 18675483
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1879-3096
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0167-7799
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.tibtech.2008.05.004
Language
- eng