Herbicide degradation is driven by communication-mediated division of labor in synthetic communities
Abstract
The persistence of herbicide residues poses a major challenge to agricultural productivity and soil health in the Northeast Black Soil region of China. To address this, we employed a 'top-down' strategy to construct two synthetic microbial communities (SynComs YKB and HKB) which enhanced the co-degradation of multiple herbicides under both laboratory and soil conditions. Multi-omics analyses demonstrated that each SynCom functioned through a metabolic division of labor and utilized quorum sensing (QS) to regulate this metabolism. Specifically, Acyl-homoserine lactones governed the functional dynamics of YKB and autoinducer-2 primarily regulated HKB. QS molecules modulated stable microbial interactions and biodegradation through both direct and indirect regulatory effects. Maize pot experiments combined with metagenomic profiling demonstrated that the SynComs provided additional benefits for the soil ecosystem and confirmed the critical role of QS-mediated interactions between the SynComs and indigenous microorganisms. Overall, we present a bioaugmentation strategy to alleviate herbicide residues in soil ecosystems, offering insights into communication mechanisms, interaction models and design principles of SynComs for environmental bioremediation.
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026herbicide,
title = {{Herbicide degradation is driven by communication-mediated division of labor in synthetic communities}},
author = {Yuxiao Zhang and Jack A. Gilbert and Li Nie and Yu-Meng Zhang and Ping Huang and Weijie Luo and Xiyuan Xu and Ru Sun and Kunkun Fan and Kaixiang Shi and Xihui Xu and Ning-Yi Zhou and Jia-Bao Zhang and Haiyan Chu},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78200-w},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78200-w},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Herbicide degradation is driven by communication-mediated division of labor in synthetic communities
AU - Yuxiao Zhang
AU - Jack A. Gilbert
AU - Li Nie
AU - Yu-Meng Zhang
AU - Ping Huang
AU - Weijie Luo
AU - Xiyuan Xu
AU - Ru Sun
AU - Kunkun Fan
AU - Kaixiang Shi
AU - Xihui Xu
AU - Ning-Yi Zhou
AU - Jia-Bao Zhang
AU - Haiyan Chu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/03
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78200-w
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78200-w
AB - The persistence of herbicide residues poses a major challenge to agricultural productivity and soil health in the Northeast Black Soil region of China. To address this, we employed a 'top-down' strategy to construct two synthetic microbial communities (SynComs YKB and HKB) which enhanced the co-degradation of multiple herbicides under both laboratory and soil conditions. Multi-omics analyses demonstrated that each SynCom functioned through a metabolic division of labor and utilized quorum sensing (QS) to regulate this metabolism. Specifically, Acyl-homoserine lactones governed the functional dynamics of YKB and autoinducer-2 primarily regulated HKB. QS molecules modulated stable microbial interactions and biodegradation through both direct and indirect regulatory effects. Maize pot experiments combined with metagenomic profiling demonstrated that the SynComs provided additional benefits for the soil ecosystem and confirmed the critical role of QS-mediated interactions between the SynComs and indigenous microorganisms. Overall, we present a bioaugmentation strategy to alleviate herbicide residues in soil ecosystems, offering insights into communication mechanisms, interaction models and design principles of SynComs for environmental bioremediation.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -