Announced in conjunction with World Microbiome Day on June 27 this milestone reflects major progress since the initiative’s founding in 2018 which was inspired by the Svalbard Seed Vault a secure Arctic facility preserving global crop diversity against future crises.

The Microbiota Vault Initiative is a forward-looking effort to safeguard the microbial life vital to the health of our planet and its people said Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello president of the initiative and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Through global cooperation and ethical stewardship Rutgers University is helping to preserve Earth’s microbial legacy. Dominguez-Bello also holds the titles of Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health and Professor of Anthropology at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.

Microbiomes exist not only in humans but also in plants food and the environment. For instance soil microbes play a key role in nutrient cycling and plant growth while fermented foods like yogurt are rich in beneficial bacteria that promote gut health. Environmental microbiomes such as those found in Arctic permafrost are crucial for climate regulation by influencing greenhouse gas emissions.

However these delicate microbial ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human activities according to research by Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello. In people factors like antibiotic overuse cesarean births and formula feeding can diminish gut microbial diversity raising the risk of allergies, autoimmune diseases and metabolic disorders. In food heavy reliance on preservatives and additives can also damage beneficial microbes.

The microbiome is facing a serious threat one that parallels climate change in its scale and urgency said Martin Blaser board member of the Microbiota Vault Initiative director of Rutgers’ Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and co-author of the perspective. Human actions are steadily depleting our microbiome and there’s growing evidence to support this concern.

Unsustainable farming pollution and climate change are damaging vital plant and environmental microbiomes said Martin Blaser. The Microbiota Vault Initiative aims to identify collect and freeze healthy microbes before they vanish, with long-term goals to prevent future crises. During the pilot phase over 2,000 samples were gathered from 32 countries now stored cryogenically in Zurich. The next phase targets 10,000 samples and the creation of a permanent vault site. A newly established ethical framework ensures global equity depositor sovereignty and fair benefit-sharing with hopes that stored microbes may one day aid medicine agriculture and ecosystem restoration.

Source: https://www.rutgers.edu/news/global-microbiome-preservation-effort-enters-its-growth-phase