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Synthetic microbiology in sustainability applications

Nature Reviews Microbiology (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Microorganisms are a promising means to address many societal sustainability challenges owing to their ability to thrive in diverse environments and interface with the microscale chemical world via diverse metabolic capacities. Synthetic biology can engineer microorganisms by rewiring their regulatory networks or introducing new functionalities, enhancing their utility for target applications. In this Review, we provide a broad, high-level overview of various research efforts addressing sustainability challenges through synthetic biology, emphasizing foundational microbiological research questions that can accelerate the development of these efforts. We introduce an organizational framework that categorizes these efforts along three domains — factory, farm and field — that are defined by the extent to which the engineered microorganisms interface with the natural external environment. Different application areas within the same domain share many fundamental challenges, highlighting productive opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaborations between researchers working in historically disparate fields.

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Fig. 1: Synthetic biology enhances existing microbial applications.
Fig. 2: Domains of environmental interfacing for the organization of sustainability applications in synthetic microbiology.
Fig. 3: Microbially compatible steps in the mining process.
Fig. 4: The benefits of, and requirements for, cybergenetic control in factory domain systems.
Fig. 5: Synthetic microbial biocontainment systems.
Fig. 6: Grand challenges for applications of synthetic microbiology in the field domain.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Q. Justman for the insightful comments and revisions of the manuscript.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Ethan M. Jones, John P. Marken.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ethan M. Jones & Pamela A. Silver

  2. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Ethan M. Jones & Pamela A. Silver

  3. Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    John P. Marken

  4. Resnick Sustainability Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    John P. Marken

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E.M.J. and J.P.M. conceptualized the narrative framework, researched the literature and wrote the article. All authors contributed to discussions of the content and reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Jones, E.M., Marken, J.P. & Silver, P.A. Synthetic microbiology in sustainability applications. Nat Rev Microbiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-023-01007-9

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