Synthetic Escherichia coli consortia engineered for syntrophy demonstrate enhanced biomass productivity

► Ecological strategy, syntrophy, was built into artificial microbial consortia. ► Consortia comprised of engineered, byproduct-crossfeeding Escherichia. coli strains. ► Synthetic consortia demonstrated emergent property of enhanced biomass productivity. ► Consortia interactions produced predictable, self-assembling microlaminated biofilms. ► New synthetic biology strategy highlights potential biocatalyst platform technology.