TY - JOUR
T1 - Horizon scanning the application of probiotics for wildlife
AU - Garcias-Bonet, Neus
AU - Roik, Anna
AU - Tierney, Braden
AU - García, Francisca C.
AU - Villela, Helena D.M.
AU - Dungan, Ashley M.
AU - Quigley, Kate M.
AU - Sweet, Michael
AU - Berg, Gabriele
AU - Gram, Lone
AU - Bourne, David G.
AU - Ushijima, Blake
AU - Sogin, Maggie
AU - Hoj, Lone
AU - Duarte, Gustavo
AU - Hirt, Heribert
AU - Smalla, Kornelia
AU - Rosado, Alexandre S.
AU - Carvalho, Susana
AU - Thurber, Rebecca Vega
AU - Ziegler, Maren
AU - Mason, Christopher E.
AU - van Oppen, Madeleine J.H.
AU - Voolstra, Christian R.
AU - Peixoto, Raquel S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - The provision of probiotics benefits the health of a wide range of organisms, from humans to animals and plants. Probiotics can enhance stress resilience of endangered organisms, many of which are critically threatened by anthropogenic impacts. The use of so-called ‘probiotics for wildlife’ is a nascent application, and the field needs to reflect on standards for its development, testing, validation, risk assessment, and deployment. Here, we identify the main challenges of this emerging intervention and provide a roadmap to validate the effectiveness of wildlife probiotics. We cover the essential use of inert negative controls in trials and the investigation of the probiotic mechanisms of action. We also suggest alternative microbial therapies that could be tested in parallel with the probiotic application. Our recommendations align approaches used for humans, aquaculture, and plants to the emerging concept and use of probiotics for wildlife.
AB - The provision of probiotics benefits the health of a wide range of organisms, from humans to animals and plants. Probiotics can enhance stress resilience of endangered organisms, many of which are critically threatened by anthropogenic impacts. The use of so-called ‘probiotics for wildlife’ is a nascent application, and the field needs to reflect on standards for its development, testing, validation, risk assessment, and deployment. Here, we identify the main challenges of this emerging intervention and provide a roadmap to validate the effectiveness of wildlife probiotics. We cover the essential use of inert negative controls in trials and the investigation of the probiotic mechanisms of action. We also suggest alternative microbial therapies that could be tested in parallel with the probiotic application. Our recommendations align approaches used for humans, aquaculture, and plants to the emerging concept and use of probiotics for wildlife.
KW - amphibians
KW - bats
KW - bees
KW - biodiversity decline
KW - conservation
KW - coral
KW - emergent interventions
KW - microbial therapies
KW - negative control
KW - placebo
KW - probiotics
KW - rehabilitation
KW - restoration
KW - wildlife
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85172143749&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tim.2023.08.012
DO - 10.1016/j.tim.2023.08.012
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85172143749
SN - 0966-842X
VL - 32
SP - 252
EP - 269
JO - Trends in Microbiology
JF - Trends in Microbiology
IS - 3
ER -