From circuits to symphonies: a systems‐engineering blueprint for multimicrobial synthetic biology
Author(s)
Fernández‐Niño, Miguel
Wessjohann, Ludger A
Guillamón, José Manuel
Burgos‐Toro, Daniela
Moriano‐Gutiérrez, Silvia
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Synthetic biology is expanding from single-species engineering toward the design of synthetic microbial consortia capable of distributed metabolism, coordinated behavior, and enhanced functional robustness. However, engineering frameworks derived from intracellular genetic circuits remain insufficient to capture the ecological, temporal, and spatial dynamics that govern multispecies systems. Here, a symphony-inspired systems-engineering framework is presented for multimicrobial synthetic biology, organizing consortium design across four application-dependent coordination layers: communication, temporal regulation, ecological structuring, and predictive modeling. Building on this framework, a modular engineering blueprint is proposed to guide the rational selection and integration of coordination layers according to engineering objectives, translating systems-level principles into operational strategies for the construction, stabilization, and optimization of synthetic microbial consortia. The manuscript integrates advances in interspecies signaling, oscillatory control, synthetic ecology, hybrid modeling, and real-time monitoring while addressing constraints including metabolite transport, population drift, parameter uncertainty, and process-scale implementation. The proposed framework is modular rather than prescriptive, allowing different coordination layers to be deployed according to application requirements and environmental complexity. By repositioning multimicrobial engineering as a problem of coordinated systems design rather than isolated genetic control, this Perspective provides a structured foundation for the development of synthetic microbial communities across industrial, environmental, and therapeutic applications.
Date Issued
2026-09-01
Date Acceptance
2026-07-25
Citation
Advanced Science, 2026, 13 (49)
ISSN
2198-3844
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
e76981
Journal / Book Title
Advanced Science
Volume
13
Issue
49
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided theoriginal work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/42536811
Subjects
microbial consortia
multicellular systems engineering
synthetic biology
synthetic ecology
systems biotechnology
Synthetic Biology
Microbial Consortia
Systems Biology
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Germany
Article Number
e76981
Date Publish Online
2026-07-31