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Potential of microbiome-based solutions for agrifood systems

Nature Food volume 3, pages 557–560 (2022)Cite this article

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Few microbiome-based solutions for agricultural productivity, food processing and human nutrition have been successfully commercialized. A systems-based approach that considers the ecology of microbial communities may help finetune extant tools to increase their reliability while promoting innovation and greater adoption.

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Fig. 1: An updated toolset for managing the microbiome as an ecological system.
Fig. 2: Critical knowledge gaps hinder our ability to consistently predict and manage the outcomes of microbial interventions.

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Acknowledgements

This workshop was facilitated by the Alexander Von Humboldt Research Award to B.K.S. and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Stephanie D. Jurburg, Nico Eisenhauer, François Buscot, Antonis Chatzinotas, Narendrakumar M. Chaudhari, Anna Heintz-Buschart, Kirsten Küsel & Rine C. Reuben

  2. Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany

    Stephanie D. Jurburg, Nico Eisenhauer, Antonis Chatzinotas & Rine C. Reuben

  3. Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research–UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Stephanie D. Jurburg, Antonis Chatzinotas, Rene Kallies, Susann Müller & Ulisses Nunes da Rocha

  4. Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research–UFZ, Halle, Germany

    François Buscot & Anna Heintz-Buschart

  5. Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

    Narendrakumar M. Chaudhari & Kirsten Küsel

  6. Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    Anna Heintz-Buschart

  7. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI, USA

    Elena Litchman

  8. Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Elena Litchman

  9. Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA

    Elena Litchman

  10. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Richmond, New South Wales, Australia

    Catriona A. Macdonald & Brajesh K. Singh

  11. Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology—Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany

    Gianni Panagiotou

  12. The State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Gianni Panagiotou

  13. Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Gianni Panagiotou

  14. Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Matthias C. Rillig

  15. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, Berlin, Germany

    Matthias C. Rillig

  16. Global Centre for Land-Based Innovation, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia

    Brajesh K. Singh

Authors
  1. Stephanie D. Jurburg
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  2. Nico Eisenhauer
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  3. François Buscot
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  4. Antonis Chatzinotas
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  5. Narendrakumar M. Chaudhari
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  6. Anna Heintz-Buschart
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  7. Rene Kallies
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  8. Kirsten Küsel
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  9. Elena Litchman
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  10. Catriona A. Macdonald
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  11. Susann Müller
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  12. Rine C. Reuben
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  13. Ulisses Nunes da Rocha
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  14. Gianni Panagiotou
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  15. Matthias C. Rillig
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  16. Brajesh K. Singh
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Contributions

B.K.S. conceived the idea in consultation with N.E. and S.J., and led the discussion which was attended by all authors. S.J. and B.K.S. wrote the manuscript and all contributed to refine it.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Stephanie D. Jurburg or Brajesh K. Singh.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Food thanks James McDonald and Emilia Hannula for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Jurburg, S.D., Eisenhauer, N., Buscot, F. et al. Potential of microbiome-based solutions for agrifood systems. Nat Food 3, 557–560 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00576-x

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