Ecological phage therapy: Can bacteriophages help rapidly restore the soil microbiome?

ABSTRACT: Soil microbiota underpin ecosystem functionality yet are rarely targeted during ecosystem restoration. Soil microbiota recovery following native plant revegetation can take years to decades, while the effectiveness of soil inoculation treatments on microbiomes remains poorly explored. Therefore, innovative restoration treatments that target soil microbiota represent an opportunity to accelerate restoration outcomes. Here, we introduce the concept of ecological phage therapy-the application of phage for the targeted reduction of the most abundant and dominant bacterial taxa present in degraded ecosystems. We propose that naturally occurring bacteriophages-viruses that infect bacteria-could help rapidly shift soil microbiota towards target communities. Bacteriophages sculpt the microbiome by

SUBMITTER: Davies T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11322231 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature