Hanna Koch, Thomas Clavel, Cintia Mayr, Benjamin L. Coltman, Michael Schloter, Julia A. Vorholt, Yolanda Sanz, Tomislav Cernava, Gwyn A. Beattie, Lene Lange, Stéphane Chaillou, Ákos T. Kovács, Hauke Smidt, Corné M. J. Pieterse, Tanja Kostić, Omri M. Finkel, Christopher E. Lawson, Luca Cocolin, Jesús Mercado‐Blanco, Robert D. Finn, Kalliope K. Papadopoulou, Matthew Ryan, Marco Candela, Paul D. Cotter, Gabriele Berg, Órla O’Sullivan, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Pankaj Trivedi, Trevor C. Charles, Brajesh K. Singh, Günter Brader, Malek Marian, Angela Sessitsch
Consortia of microbial isolates, also known as synthetic communities (SynComs), are increasingly used to study and harness microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions. Since “synthetic” potentially evokes negative connotations, we propose adopting the term “Defined Microbial Community” for practical applications.