Synthetic Agro-Microbiome Design: Engineering Precision Biologics for Climate Resilience

This Research Topic focuses on the convergence of microbial ecology, systems biology, and engineering principles to solve critical global challenges in agriculture exacerbated by climate change. While traditional research focuses on the application of existing beneficial microorganisms, this topic centers on the rational design and optimization of these systems, making it highly innovative and timely.1. Engineering Novel Systems: The core novelty lies in moving beyond simply applying microbial inoculants (like AMF, PGPR, Trichoderma, and LAB) to designing innovative and efficient microbial formulations. This includes utilizing synthetic biology to modify or combine beneficial microorganisms for targeted performance enhancement, optimizing their synergistic role to boost plant performance and protection.2. Addressing Climate Extremes with Precision: The urgency of the topic stems from climate change severely altering agricultural sustainability through reduced water availability, enhanced soil salinity, increased heatwaves, and pathogens. The research would seek to understand and engineer the microbial biostimulants' role(s) on crop resilience under climate change-associated (a)biotic stresses. This is achieved by creating precision biologics designed to thrive and function efficiently under harsh conditions.3. Science and Engineering Sound Methodology: Submissions should be driven by deep, mechanistic insights, utilizing -omics approaches (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics). This allows researchers to accurately map the drivers, roles, processes, and mechanisms that underpin plant-beneficial microbe interactions. This quantitative and engineering-focused approach ensures the reproducibility and scalability necessary for industrial and societal impact.4. Targeted Submission Themes :◦ Synthetic Ecology: Designing minimal, functional microbial consortia capable of mutualistic effects optimized for nutrient uptake and crop stress tolerance.◦ Mechanism Mapping: Utilizing advanced '-omics' to fully delineate the molecular communication pathways between the host plant and the designed microbial allies.◦ Delivery System Innovation: Engineering encapsulation or targeted delivery methods that ensure the efficiency and stability of microbial formulations, aligning with the goal of minimizing environmental impact and maintaining high yields.◦ Climate-Adaptive Biocontrol: Engineering beneficial microorganisms specifically for biocontrol effects to boost plant tolerance to emergent pathogens accelerated by shifting climate conditions.This research topic promises to capture submissions from disparate fields—plant physiology, microbial ecology, agricultural science, synthetic biology, and materials engineering—that directly address global food security challenges Topic editors: Mohamed Ait-El-Mokhtar, Everlon Cid Rigobelo, Marouane BASLAM, Olubukola Oluranti Babalola Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76245/synthetic-agro-microbiome-design-engineering-precision-biologics-for-climate-resilience