Sourdough Starters Reveal a Recipe for Predicting Microbial Species Survival

by Genevieve Rajewski, Tufts University
January 22, 2026

People have long said that “bread is life.” Now, researchers at Tufts University are using the bubbling mixtures of flour and water known as sourdough starters to explore what shapes life at the microscopic level. Their findings, published in Ecology, demonstrate a simple way to predict how microbial species will live together, providing insights that could inform baking, food safety, and human health.

A major question in ecology is if it’s possible to predict which microbial species will thrive together based on how pairs of species interact, or if more complex group effects are needed to explain the patterns of coexistence of species seen in nature.

Some ecologists are skeptical of using “pairwise interactions” to predict real microbial communities because of previous studies, which often featured artificial combinations of species or lab conditions unlike their natural habitats.

By studying microbes isolated from real sourdough cultures, the Tufts team showed that a simple pair-based model could reliably forecast how up to nine species of microbes will interact.

Keep reading: https://now.tufts.edu/2026/01/22/sourdough-starters-reveal-recipe-predicting-microbial-species-survival

Read the Ecology paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70284