Synthetic bacterial communities are currently under intensive investigation. Using natural communities as models, we established the CoNoS (Communities of Niche-optimized Strains) approach to create synthetic communities composed of different strains of the same species. By combining CoNoS with adaptive laboratory evolution, we identified new amino acid production traits, thereby demonstrating the high potential for their use...

The successful transformation of the conventional, petroleum-based industry into a sustainable bioeconomy is largely dependent on the availability of suitable microbial production strains for the biobased production of valuable compounds from renewable raw materials. For rapid and targeted development of optimal production strains, automation approaches for (un)directed strain construction and improvement are needed.