Microbial Communication Drives Division of Labor in SynComs for Herbicides Degradation

The persistence of multiple herbicide residues poses a major challenge to agricultural productivity and soil health in the Northeast Black Soil region. To address this issue, we employed a “top-down” strategy to construct two synthetic microbial communities (SynComs YKB and HKB) that significantly enhanced the co-degradation of multiple herbicides under both laboratory and soil conditions. Multi-omics analyses demonstrated that each SynCom maintained a distinct metabolic potential, facilitated a metabolic division of labor among its constituent members, and utilized quorum sensing (QS) as the key regulatory mechanism governing this division of labor. Specifically, Acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) governed the functional dynamics of SynCom YKB and autoinducer-2 (AI-2) primarily regulated SynCom HKB. QS molecules also regulated and enhanced downstream metabolic functions, further promoting stable microbial interactions and the herbicide degradation process. Maize pot experiments combined with metagenomic profiling demonstrated that the SynComs provided many benefits for the native black soil ecosystem, and confirmed the critical role of QS-mediated interactions between the SynComs and indigenous microorganisms. This study presents an efficient bioaugmentation strategy to alleviate herbicide residues in black soil ecosystems, while simultaneously offering new insights into the communication mechanisms, interaction models, and design principles of SynComs for environmental bioremediation.