Can microbes
be trained?

Many bacteria are killed by heat — that is why heat can be used for sterilization.

But not all microorganisms respond to heat in the same way. In a properly controlled high-temperature anaerobic environment, heat becomes a powerful selection pressure: organisms that cannot cope decline, while heat-adapted communities can become dominant.

From 2008–2011, our wastewater and sludge treatment experience taught us a central lesson:

The connection was sludge.

Treating wastewater does not end with clean water. The process also produces sludge, which creates another biological challenge.

Our experience gradually moved from treating water → managing sludge → understanding soil-like microbial environments.

That led us to explore whether acclimated microorganisms could also survive in acidic, chemically stressed and damaged agricultural soils — and eventually to the Earth Foods agricultural technology platform.

Conventional NPK fertilizer creates a high-salt environment, which can be stressful for many microorganisms.

But selected microbial communities can be acclimated to function under these conditions.

Instead of simply dying in concentrated fertilizer environments, suitable acclimated communities may participate in nutrient transformation and bioconversion.

It started with a simple observation: better nutrient management can change the quality of the plant.

After working on microbial bioconversion in fertilizers and crop production, we became increasingly interested in medicinal and functional plants.

For ordinary crops, the target may be yield and nutrition. For herbs, the more interesting question is:

Many herbs naturally contain compounds that inhibit microbial growth. That means fermenting certain herbs can be difficult — the substrate itself may suppress the microorganisms.

MATE™ approaches the problem differently: adapt the microbial ecosystem to the selected substrate and conditions.

If successful, microorganisms can remain metabolically active and biotransform herbal compounds into a new metabolite profile.

No. Fermentation is the process. MATE™ is how we prepare and guide the microbial system.

Traditional fermentation often begins by asking: “Which microorganism should we use?”

MATE™ adds another question: What environment will make the microbial system perform the function we need?

Because a microorganism that performs well in a laboratory does not necessarily perform the same way in a difficult real-world environment.

Temperature, pH, salinity, nutrients and the substrate itself can all change microbial behaviour.

MATE™ therefore focuses not only on what microorganism is present, but also on what environment allows the desired microbial function to emerge.

This is one of the biggest challenges in microbial biotechnology.

Adaptation alone is not enough. A commercially useful process must also be repeatable and measurable.

That is why MATE™ development is combined with process control and analytical tools such as metagenomics, HPLC and LC–MS.

We are not simply selling microorganisms.

We develop microbial acclimation and biotransformation processes that can lead to standardized functional ingredients, agricultural technologies and proprietary biological know-how.

Our long-term value lies in turning microbial adaptation into repeatable technology and intellectual property.