Microencapsulation is a process of building a functional barrier between the core and wall material to avoid chemical and physical reactions and to maintain the biological, functional, and physicochemical properties of core materials. Microencapsulation of marine, vegetable, and essential oils has been conducted and commercialized by employing different methods including emulsification, spray-drying, coaxial electrospray system, freeze-drying, coacervation, in situ polymerization, melt-extrusion, supercritical fluid technology, and fluidized-bed-coating. Spray-drying and coacervation are the most commonly used techniques for the microencapsulation of oils. The choice of an appropriate microencapsulation technique and wall material depends upon the end use of the product and the processing conditions involved. Microencapsulation has the ability to enhance the oxidative stability, thermostability, shelf-life, and biological activity of oils. In addition, it can also be helpful in controlling the volatility and release properties of essential oils. Microencapsulated marine, vegetable, and essential oils have found broad applications in various fields. This review describes the recognized benefits and functional properties of various oils, microencapsulation techniques, and application of encapsulated oils in various food, pharmaceutical, and even textile products. Moreover, this review may provide information to researchers working in the field of food, pharmacy, agronomy, engineering, and nutrition who are interested in microencapsulation of oils.

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16Recently there has been an increased interest towards the biological activities of essential oils 17 (EOs). However, EOs are unstable and susceptible to degradation when exposed to 18 environmental stresses like oxygen, temperature, and light. Therefore, attempts have been 19 made to preserve them through encapsulation in various colloidal systems such as 20 microcapsules, nanospheres, nanoemulsions, liposomes, and molecular inclusion complexes. 21 This review focuses on various techniques used for the encapsulation of EOs, potential 22 applications in food, and their behaviours/trends after encapsulation. The encapsulation 23 efficiency, particle size, and physical stability of EOs encapsulated in colloidal systems is 24 dependent on the kind of technique and the type and concentration/ratio of emulsifier/wall 25 material used. Moreover, the benefits associated after encapsulation, namely bioavailability, 26 controlled release, and protection of EOs against environmental stresses are discussed. The 27 applications of encapsulated EOs are also summarized in this review. Encapsulated EOs are 28promising agents that can be used to increase the anti-microbial, antifungal, antiviral, and 29 pesticidal activities of EOs in real food systems, to study their action mechanism, and to 30 provide nonlethal therapeutic agents to treat several diseases. 31

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Pigments are an essential part of everyday life on Earth with rapidly growing industrial and biomedical applications. Synthetic pigments account for a major portion of these pigments that in turn have deleterious effects on public health and environment. Such drawbacks of synthetic pigments have shifted the trend to use natural pigments that are considered as the best alternative to synthetic pigments due to their significant properties. Natural pigments from microorganisms are of great interest due to their broader applications in the pharmaceutical, food, and textile industry with increasing demand among the consumers opting for natural pigments. To fulfill the market demand of natural pigments new sources should be explored. Cold-adapted bacteria and fungi in the cryosphere produce a variety of pigments as a protective strategy against ecological stresses such as low temperature, oxidative stresses, and ultraviolet radiation making them a potential source for natural pigment production. This review highlights the protective strategies and pigment production by cold-adapted bacteria and fungi, their industrial and biomedical applications, condition optimization for maximum pigment extraction as well as the challenges facing in the exploitation of cryospheric microorganisms for pigment extraction that hopefully will provide valuable information, direction, and progress in forthcoming studies.