Decoupling Community Complexity From Efficacy: A Meta-Analysis of Synthetic Microbial Communities for Plant Stress Resilience.

Single-genus synthetic microbial communities outperform multi-genus ones, with a 111.93% increase in plant biomass, regardless of community richness.

• Why it matters: Understanding how community complexity influences plant stress resilience is crucial for optimizing microbiome engineering and sustainable agriculture practices.
• What they did: The meta-analysis of 34 studies with 433 comparisons assessed SynCom effects on plant growth under stress, focusing on biomass, physiological responses, and microbial traits.
• The result: Efficacy was linked to specific microbial functions rather than community size, suggesting that designing SynComs around functional traits can enhance plant stress tolerance and agricultural sustainability.