Designer microbial communities as biocontrol agents for crop protection

Overview

This research program focuses on designing synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) as next-generation biocontrol agents for crop protection. Conventional approaches to microbial secondary metabolite (SM) discovery rely on pure (axenic) cultures, which overlook the complex interactions that occur in natural soil microbiomes. By assembling carefully selected multi-species consortia, the platform aims to unlock synergistic bioactivities that are not achievable with single-strain approaches. The intended outcome is a new class of microbial pesticides that suppress bacterial and fungal pathogens while supporting plant growth, providing a sustainable alternative to chemical crop protection products.

Technical specifications

• Library-driven strain selection: Leverages the A*STAR Natural Organisms Library (NOL) of approximately 120,000 microbial strains as a sourcing pool for candidate organisms.
• Targeted diversity: Soil bacteria from the Bacilli, Pseudomonads, and Actinobacteria groups, together with fungi such as Trichoderma sp., are prioritized to ensure functional and taxonomic diversity within the consortia.
• Bottom-up community design: SynComs are built and refined using a stepwise addition, elimination, or substitution approach at the strain level, enabling rational optimization of community composition.
• Preliminary antimicrobial screening: Axenic cultures of selected microbes are first screened for antimicrobial activity before inclusion in consortia.
• Multi-tier validation: Antibacterial and antifungal effects of candidate SynComs are assessed in vitro and on whole plants to confirm efficacy against target pathogens and benefits to crop growth.
• Inspired by proven precedents: Builds on published SynCom design principles, including a 3-member consortium demonstrated to delay Fusarium disease in banana plants.

Technology readiness level

The underlying SynCom concept has been supported by multiple preliminary studies demonstrating pathogen suppression and improved crop growth in controlled settings. The current program is at the early-to-mid research and development stage, focused on strain selection from the NOL collection, in vitro antimicrobial screening, and plant-based validation of assembled consortia. Further development will be required to scale production, optimize formulation, and evaluate field performance before commercial deployment as a registered microbial pesticide.