Background
Microbiomes occur in nature in all different habitats and are controlling the global biogeochemical cycles. Their distribution ranges from deep-sea hydrothermal vents to microbial mats; from marsh-land to the human gut. In anthropogenic systems, microbiomes are mainly used for the degradation of organic waste in anaerobic digesters or in wastewater treatment. In these applications the primary goal is the reduction of nutrient load (water) and volume (sludge), and recovery of energy (methane) and resources (e.g. phosphorous).
Apart from the aforementioned methane, the use of microbiomes for the production of specific chemicals or products is currently limited to very simple specialized communities in food applications (e.g. wine making with yeasts followed by malolactic fermentation with specialized yeasts or lactic acid bacteria) or production of complex mixtures of chemicals in highly diluted aqueous systems. In addition, the chain elongation process that exploits reverse β–oxidation to elongate short-chain fatty acids and forms the more valuable medium-chain variants is a major focus of current research.
Objectives
The overall aim of the PROMICON project is the development of an efficient biotechnological production platform that creates a synergy between strain engineering strategies with the robustness of microbiomes and their metabolic plasticity in organic conversions. This main overarching aim will be pursued by four ambitious research objectives:
This work package focuses on the development of technologies to study and understand microbial consortia. While PROMICON has biotechnology in focus, the methods developed might be applicable in medical or ecological applications too. This WP is directly providing inputs to the research teams in the project.
Work package 2 will be involved in the collection, pre-screening and characterisation of natural microbiomes. The involved partnering organisations will work closely to define how to improve the production and extraction of products from the naturally enriched consortia. Key-concepts from this WP will be applied in WP3.
This work package aims at the assembly of a minimal functional consortia for production, while still maintaining the self-stabilising characteristics of natural microbiomes. These synthetic microbial consortia will consist of bacterial farmers, producers and stabilizers and will be optimized through systems metabolic engineering and synthetic biology providing optimal production of target metabolites.
Most natural microbiomes in application are located in simple systems, such as anaerobic digesters or wastewater treatment plants. For PROMICON the use of primary producers (Farmers) is a major advancement beyond the state-of-the art. Such light-dependent consortia require new reactor designs, which will be developed and elaborated by this WP.
The new concepts developed in PROMICON will have a transformational character for the bio-economy sector. This WP will focus on exploiting the full potential of the new PROMICON solutions in all parts of application. This includes assessing the environmental, economic and social impacts of the target bio-based products produced. Identifying and quantifying the market opportunities for the PROMICON solutions to support the development of exploitation strategies and business cases is also part of the exploitation strategy.
This work package will focus on dissemination and communication of the PROMICON results to all relevant stakeholders. By supplying a distinct identity of the project and its services through branding, visualisation and related branded materials, the project’s impact and awareness-raising will be guaranteed. The active and ongoing promotion, dissemination and communication of project results tailored to the needs of defined target audiences will be closely aligned with the exploitation objectives.
This work package will coordinate the project, focusing on scientific coordination, financial and legal management, quality control, conflict resolution, communication among partners and organisation of meetings. It is responsible for monitoring and ensuring progress of the project, managing and mitigating risks, and reporting to the EC.
The final work package focuses on ethical compliance.