COSMOS: Smarter Microbial Design for Sustainable Biomanufacturing

Key Highlights:

1. Development:

   • Scientists at IIT Madras have developed a computational tool named COSMOS (Community and Single Microbe Optimisation System).

   • Purpose: To determine whether a single microbe (monoculture) or a microbial community (co-culture) is optimal for a given industrial bioprocess.

2. Functionality:

   • Uses simulations to predict microbial productivity under various conditions.

   • Considers factors like feedstock type, oxygen levels, inoculum ratios, and metabolic cooperation between microbes.

   • Helps industries “test-drive” microbial strategies in silico before expensive lab trials.

3. Industrial Example:

   • Predicted that a co-culture of Shewanella oneidensis and Klebsiella pneumoniae produces 1,3-propanediol (PDO) more efficiently than either microbe alone.

   • PDO is an industrial chemical used to produce:

     • Polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) – for textiles, carpets, engineering plastics

     • Polyurethane foams, coatings, adhesives

     • Cosmetics and solvents

   • When made from renewable feedstocks (corn sugar, glycerol), PDO offers a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based glycols.

4. Significance:

   • Addresses the trade-off between monocultures and communities:

     • Monocultures: Simple to manage, limited productivity

     • Communities: Higher productivity via metabolic cooperation, but complex to optimise

   • COSMOS acts as a decision-making filter, guiding whether a monoculture or community is more suitable.

   • Helps in sectors like biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and bioplastics.

   • Supports decarbonisation and sustainable production, contributing to the emerging bioeconomy.

5. Limitations & Validation:

   • Relies on generalised parameters, does not capture every strain-specific detail.

   • Validated against lab data; reliably predicts performance trends.

   • Acts as a pre-selection tool, not a replacement for experiments.

Implications:

• Enables cost-effective and time-efficient industrial bioprocess optimisation.

• Promotes sustainable production using microbes.

• Strengthens India’s position in bio-based industries and green manufacturing technologies.