Bai Xinyi, Zhang Mengjun, Zhang Guangbao, Huang Yi
College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Peking University Shenzhen Institute, Shenzhen 518057, Guangdong, China.
Sheng Wu Gong Cheng Xue Bao. 2024 Mar 25;40(3):722-738. doi: 10.13345/j.cjb.230483.
Synthetic microbial communities are artificial systems composed of multiple microorganisms with well-defined genetic backgrounds. They are characterized by low complexity, high controllability, and strong stability, thus suitable for industrial production, disease management, and environmental remediation. This review summarizes the design principles and construction methods of synthetic microbial communities, and highlights their application in polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthesis. Constructing a synthetic microbial community represents a core research direction of synthetic ecology and an emerging frontier of synthetic biology. It requires strategies to design and control microbial interactions, spatial organization, robustness maintenance, and biocontainment to obtain an efficient, stable, and controllable synthetic microbial community. In recent years, synthetic microbial communities have been widely used to synthesize high-value chemicals such as drugs, biofuels, and biomaterials. As an ideal substitute for oil-based plastics, PHA has received much attention. Enhancing the capacity and broadening the range of carbon source utilization for PHA producers have become the research priority in the application of synthetic microbial communities for PHA biosynthesis, with the aim to reduce PHA production cost.
合成微生物群落是由具有明确遗传背景的多种微生物组成的人工系统。它们具有低复杂性、高可控性和强稳定性的特点，因此适用于工业生产、疾病管理和环境修复。本综述总结了合成微生物群落的设计原则和构建方法，并重点介绍了它们在聚羟基脂肪酸酯（PHA）生物合成中的应用。构建合成微生物群落是合成生态学的核心研究方向和合成生物学的新兴前沿领域。它需要设计和控制微生物相互作用、空间组织、稳健性维持和生物防护的策略，以获得高效、稳定和可控的合成微生物群落。近年来，合成微生物群落已被广泛用于合成药物、生物燃料和生物材料等高价值化学品。作为石油基塑料的理想替代品，PHA受到了广泛关注。提高PHA生产者的碳源利用能力和拓宽其碳源利用范围已成为合成微生物群落应用于PHA生物合成的研究重点，旨在降低PHA生产成本。
