BEYOND HOLOBIONT: MICROBIOME INTERCONNECTEDNESS THROUGHOUT ENVIRONMENTS

Microbiomes are in, on and all around us!’. Microbiomes have crucial roles in maintaining life on earth.
For example, marine microbiomes produce most of the oxygen we breathe and are indispensable in
carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling. Soil microbiomes fix nitrogen and methane, enabling
fertilisation and greenhouse gas mitigation effects. The human gut microbiome has clear links with
human health, and similarly, plant and animal microbiomes have important roles in plant and animal
health.
Although we are starting to understand that microbiomes in different systems are interconnected, there
is still a poor understanding of microbiome transfer and connectivity across systems. Current
understanding, future perspectives, unresolved issues, and needs pertaining to the microbiome R&D
field will be discussed in this presentation.