In Metabolic Engineering of Eukaryotic Microalgae: Potential and Challenges Come with Great Diversity
Author
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Gimpel, Javier A.
Author
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Henríquez, Vitalia
Author
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Mayfield, Stephen P.
Admission date
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2016-01-22T02:21:27Z
Available date
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2016-01-22T02:21:27Z
Publication date
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2015
Cita de ítem
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Frontiers in Microbiology December 2015 | Volume 6 | Article 1376
en_US
Identifier
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DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.01376
Identifier
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https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/136687
General note
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Artículo de publicación ISI
en_US
Abstract
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The great phylogenetic diversity of microalgae is corresponded by a wide arrange of interesting and useful metabolites. Nonetheless metabolic engineering in microalgae has been limited, since specific transformation tools must be developed for each species for either the nuclear or chloroplast genomes. Microalgae as production platforms for metabolites offer several advantages over plants and other microorganisms, like the ability of GMO containment and reduced costs in culture media, respectively. Currently, microalgae have proved particularly well suited for the commercial production of omega-3 fatty acids and carotenoids. Therefore most metabolic engineering strategies have been developed for these metabolites. Microalgal biofuels have also drawn great attention recently, resulting in efforts for improving the production of hydrogen and photosynthates, particularly triacylglycerides. Metabolic pathways of microalgae have also been manipulated in order to improve photosynthetic growth under specific conditions and for achieving trophic conversion. Although these pathways are not strictly related to secondary metabolites, the synthetic biology approaches could potentially be translated to this field and will also be discussed.