Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
J Basic Microbiol. 2022 Mar;62(3-4):310-329. doi: 10.1002/jobm.202100417. Epub 2022 Jan 21.
Microalgae are complex metabolic machineries whose potential has been continuously tapped for wide range of applications. Their suboptimal biomass yield and bioactives production remain the mainstay for their commercialization. To surpass the limitations, genetic engineering and its decisive role in strain improvement have led to the enhancement of quality and yield of products. Meanwhile, the sporadic use of genetic engineering tools specifically toward microalgal strains has limited their applicability. In this context, this article was mainly prepared to highlight the characteristics of microalgae and the introduction of omics approach for the improvement of strain for biorefinery processes. Furthermore, genome editing and gene-interfering tools to augment algal research using reference strains have been described. The progress made by genetic engineering in editing a gene using CRISPR-Cas9 and metabolic engineering of microalgae for biofuel production and CO sequestration have been critically reviewed. As a futuristic alternative, the transgenic microalgae would compete with the existing resources reducing the dependency on fossil fuel in terms of cost, energy production, and efficacy.
微藻是复杂的代谢机制，其潜在应用价值不断被挖掘。然而，其生物量和生物活性产物的产量不理想，仍是其商业化应用的主要障碍。为了克服这些限制，遗传工程及其在菌株改良中的决定性作用，促进了产品质量和产量的提高。同时，遗传工程工具的零星应用，特别是针对微藻菌株的应用，限制了其适用性。在这种情况下，本文主要旨在强调微藻的特征，并介绍组学方法在生物炼制过程中改良菌株的应用。此外，还描述了使用参考菌株增强藻类研究的基因组编辑和基因干扰工具。本文还批判性地回顾了遗传工程在使用 CRISPR-Cas9 编辑基因和微藻代谢工程生产生物燃料和 CO2 固定方面所取得的进展。作为一种未来的替代方案，转基因微藻将与现有资源竞争，降低对化石燃料的依赖，在成本、能源生产和功效方面都是如此。
