Microbial consortia, as a biological process, refers to the dynamic, functionally integrated interactions among multiple co-occurring microbial species that collectively perform metabolic activities not achievable by individual taxa alone. These processes include syntrophy, cross-feeding, metabolic division of labor, and coordinated responses to environmental cues, often regulated through cell–cell signaling and resource partitioning. Within consortia, emergent properties such as enhanced stability, resilience to perturbation, and optimized biogeochemical cycling arise from coupled metabolic networks and spatial organization. Microbial consortia underlie key processes in natural and engineered systems, including nutrient turnover, waste degradation, bioremediation, and host-associated microbiome functions.
Decades of research has shown promise for using microbiome science to solve several problems facing agriculture, but these findings have not yet been translated to practical recommendations for growers, according to a team ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 28, 2026
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Depending on others for something you need may feel like a risky proposition—and perhaps a human one. It is actually a survival strategy found in the microbial world, and far more frequently than one might expect. Discovering ...
Ecology
Feb 24, 2026
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50
The role of soil and forests in greenhouse gas sequestration has been studied for a long time. However, forests are also home to invisible organisms that may affect the climate. "Soil, water and peatlands have been studied ...
Ecology
Feb 17, 2026
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14
Back in 2021, Pierre Stallforth and his team at the Leibniz-Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) showed that bacteria of the genera Pseudomonas and Paenibacillus join forces to protect ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 13, 2026
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24
Microbes could help oak trees cope with environmental change. Publishing in Cell Host & Microbe, a study observing oaks growing in a natural woodland found that the trees' above- and below-ground microbiomes were resilient ...
Ecology
Feb 11, 2026
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23
A Dartmouth study finds that molecular hitchhikers living within bacteria can make their hosts extra resistant to medical treatment by corralling them into tightly packed groups. The findings introduce a previously unknown ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 10, 2026
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Antibiotic resistance (AR) has steadily accelerated in recent years to become a global health crisis. As deadly bacteria evolve new ways to elude drug treatments for a variety of illnesses, a growing number of "superbugs" ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 6, 2026
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359
Sleep is essential for much of the animal kingdom. During the night, neuron and tissue repair mechanisms are activated to aid recovery from daily activity. This is risky: organisms that sleep are more vulnerable to predators. ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2026
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31
Researchers from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), have uncovered how a high-risk class of genetic vectors can efficiently spread antibiotic resistance within the gut, enabling ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 27, 2026
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21
Human health risks from direct consumption of toxic nanoplastics are already scary, but researchers have confirmed that nanoplastics in water give rise to an additional threat: They strengthen bacteria.
Ecology
Jan 26, 2026
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