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Artificially selecting microbial communities: If we can breed dogs, why not microbiomes?

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  • Flor I Arias-Sánchez
  • Björn Vessman
  • Sara Mitri

Abstract

Natural microbial communities perform many functions that are crucial for human well-being. Yet we have very little control over them, and we do not know how to optimize their functioning. One idea is to breed microbial communities as we breed dogs: by comparing a set of microbiomes and allowing the best-performing ones to generate new communities, and so on. Although this idea seems simple, designing such a selection experiment brings with it many decisions with surprising outcomes. Xie and colleagues developed a computational model that reveals this complexity and shows how different experimental design decisions can impact the success of such an experiment.Microbial communities provide key ecosystem services that could be improved using artificial selection. This Primer explores recent work showing that despite its potential, this approach brings with it a number of important challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Flor I Arias-Sánchez & Björn Vessman & Sara Mitri, 2019. "Artificially selecting microbial communities: If we can breed dogs, why not microbiomes?," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(8), pages 1-8, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pbio00:3000356
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000356
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