Using microbial consortia may boost success of biotechnologies
Thursday, March 17, 2016 - 07:00
in Biology & Nature
Around the world, researchers are studying microbes to see if these tiny organisms can be used to solve a host of problems, from cleaning up toxic waste to providing renewable energy. Unfortunately, attempts to develop biotechnologies often fall short because they focus on a limited set of single, highly engineered organisms. Such organisms frequently do not perform as efficiently or stably in an application as they do in the laboratory.