Constructing and optimizing the synthetic microbial community using evolutionary principles for mitigating ammonia and greenhouse gases generated by swine fecal microbiota

Ammonia and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a dominant driving force of global air pollution and climate change. Ammonia emissions not only lead to a range of environmental problems such as PM2.5, odor nuisance, eutrophication, acidification of soil, and global nitrogen loss, but they also underlie health problems such as respiratory diseases, weakened immune systems, or even increased mortality. GHG emissions, including methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide, drive global climate change and exert a severe and harmful effect on human health. Particularly, the global livestock supply chain is one of the major sources for ammonia and GHG emissions6-8. Recently, it was proposed that it is vital and urgent to abate ammonia and GHG emissions in the agricultural sector including the livestock farming system. This project proposes to design, construct, test, and optimize a synthetic microbiome integrating functional microbes with wide carbon-source spectrum and pH growth profile to reduce ammonia and GHG emissions and C and N nutrient losses caused by fecal microbiota in the swine farming system. This synthetic microbial community is expected to be able to regulate the carbon metabolism and nitrogen conversion in the manure environment. After that, we will explore emission-mitigation mechanisms and mechanisms of interactions between the synthetic microbial community and fecal microbiota. And then, an optimization strategy will be developed. Finally, we will propose an overall approach of practicing environmental synthetic microbiomes applied in complex natural environment.