Recent advances in microbial ecology and synthetic biology have the potential to mitigate damage caused by anthropogenic activities that are deleteriously impacting Earth’s soil ecosystems. Here, we discuss challenges and opportunities for harnessing natural and synthetic soil microbial communities, focusing on plant growth promotion under different scenarios. We explore current needs for microbial solutions in soil ecosystems, how these solutions are being developed and applied, and the potential for new biotechnology breakthroughs to tailor and target microbial products for specific applications. We highlight several scientific and technological advances in soil microbiome engineering, including characterization of microbes that impact soil ecosystems, directing how microbes assemble to interact in soil environments, and the developing suite of gene-engineering approaches. This Review underscores the need for an interdisciplinary approach to understand the composition, dynamics and deployment of beneficial soil microbiomes to drive efforts to mitigate or reverse environmental damage by restoring and protecting healthy soil ecosystems.

微生物生态学和合成生物学的最新进展有可能减轻人类活动对地球土壤生态系统造成的损害。在这里，我们讨论利用天然和合成土壤微生物群落的挑战和机遇，重点关注不同情景下的植物生长促进。我们探索土壤生态系统中微生物解决方案的当前需求、这些解决方案的开发和应用方式，以及新生物技术突破的潜力，以针对特定应用定制和定位微生物产品。我们重点介绍土壤微生物组工程方面的几项科学和技术进展，包括影响土壤生态系统的微生物的表征、指导微生物如何组装以在土壤环境中相互作用，以及正在开发的基因工程方法套件。本综述强调需要采用跨学科方法来了解有益土壤微生物组的组成、动态和部署，以推动通过恢复和保护健康的土壤生态系统来减轻或扭转环境破坏的努力。