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Microbial biotechnology meets ecological theory: a unified framework to design industrial microbial consortia Belda Aguilar, Ignacio Funding: Research in Ignacio Belda’s laboratory is supported by the Spanish National Research Agency (MICIU/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033) and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF/EU). Current projects include grant PID2019-105834GA-I00 (Wineteractions) and grant PID2022-138343NB-I00 (INDUSYNCON). Microbial biotechnology and ecological theory are increasingly converging, driven by the recognition that microbial function emerges from community interactions and environmental context. Traditional reductionist approaches, focused on single strains, often fail to capture the complexity and emergent behaviors of multispecies systems underpinning bioproduction, bioremediation, and food fermentation. This review presents a framework for integrating ecological principles into microbial biotechnology to enable the rational design of industrial consortia. Here, I argue that industrial microbiomes provide an ideal intermediate between simplified laboratory models and natural ecosystems, being tractable, moderately complex, and ecologically realistic. Understanding context dependence, ecosystem-informed design, and evolutionary dynamics is essential for engineering stable, resilient, and high-performing communities. Using agri-food microbiomes as examples, this review illustrates how ecological and evolutionary concepts can guide the design of synthetic consortia with predictable functionality. By combining ecological theory with engineering strategies, microbial biotechnology can move from descriptive empiricism toward predictive, theory-driven design. 2026-04-24T15:38:51Z 2026-04-24T15:38:51Z 2026-02 journal article Belda, I. Microbial biotechnology meets ecological theory: a unified framework to design industrial microbial consortia. Int Microbiol 29, 269–280 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-026-00790-8 1139-6709 10.1007/s10123-026-00790-8 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/135071 1618-1905 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-026-00790-8 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10123-026-00790-8#Abs1 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/PID2019-105834GA-I00/ES/ECOLOGIA FUNCIONAL Y BIOLOGIA DE SISTEMAS PARA LA MODELIZACION DEL PROCESO DE FERMENTACION VINICA/ info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023/PID2022-138343NB-I00/ES/ENRIQUECIMIENTO TOP-DOWN Y RECONSTRUCCION BOTTOM-UP DE CONSORCIOS MICROBIANOS SINTETICOS PARA LA MEJORA DE LA FUNCION Y PREDICTIBILIDAD DE PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Springer