Experts issue critical framework for using microbiomes to protect wildlife -- KAUST

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 (Bernama) -- A group of leading experts have issued a critical framework for using microbiomes to protect wildlife in an ethical and efficient way.

Beneficial Microbes for Marine Organisms (BMMO), an international network of collaborators with expertise in crosscutting areas of probiotic research, have published a paper in Nature Microbiology, Harnessing the microbiome to prevent global biodiversity loss.

It provides a science-based framework to accelerate the responsible research and development of microbiome solutions, according to a statement from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

Founder and co-chair of BMMO and associate professor of marine science at KAUST Dr Raquel Peixoto said: “Key ecosystems, which host many forms of life, are at the brink of ecological collapse, driving enormous biodiversity losses and mass extinctions, and disrupting ecosystems central to supporting livelihoods.

“Our framework provides a pragmatic regulatory wildlife-adapted tool to guide scientists and stakeholders through the fight against biodiversity loss.”

Contributing authors include professors Gabriele Berg of The Graz University of Technology; Christian Voolstra of the University of Konstanz; and, Ute Hentschel of GEOMAR.

The scientists examine the use of probiotics to “reboot” healthy microbiomes and protect key, and sensitive, symbiotic relationships between hosts and their associated microbes. 

The team propose a science-based framework, outlining a path from laboratory bench to pilot and large-scale applications of microbiomes, to save threatened ecosystems.

-- BERNAMA