A stabilized microbial ecosystem of self-limiting bacteria using synthetic quorum-regulated lysis.

ABSTRACT: Microbial ecologists are increasingly turning to small, synthesized ecosystems^1-5 as a reductionist tool to probe the complexity of native microbiomes^6,7. Concurrently, synthetic biologists have gone from single-cell gene circuits^8-11 to controlling whole populations using intercellular signalling^12-16. The intersection of these fields is giving rise to new approaches in waste recycling¹⁷, industrial fermentation¹⁸, bioremediation¹⁹ and human health^16,20. These applications share a common challenge⁷ well-known in classical ecology^21,22-stability of an ecosystem cannot arise without mechanisms that prohibit the faster-growing species from eliminating the slower. Here, we combine ort

SUBMITTER: Scott SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5603288 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature