Nair et al. (2024): Engineering microbiomes to enhance macroalgal health, biomass yield, and carbon sequestration
Shailesh Nair, Zenghu Zhang, Xiaojie Wang, Bo Zhang, Nianzhi Jiao, Yongyu Zhang IN: Green Carbon, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.greenca.2024.11.001
Macroalgae farming not only holds significant economic value but also contributes substantially to carbon sequestration, and therefore has gained intensified attention globally under climate change scenarios. However, its sustainability is increasingly threatened by anthropogenic and environmental changes. The health and resilience of macroalgae are intrinsically linked to their associated microbiomes, offering an untapped opportunity to enhance macroalgal farming through microbiome manipulation. In this review, the authors have summarized the current understanding of macroalgal microbiomes, highlighting critically underexplored microbial components, such as overlooked taxa, host specificity, and the environmental factors influencing microbiome composition, which hinder the development of effective microbiome engineering strategies.