Genetic Engineering Strategies for Euglena gracilis and Its Industrial Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals: A Review

Abstract

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted at the 2015 United Nations Summit are globally applicable goals designed to help countries realize a sustainable future. To achieve these SDGs, it is necessary to utilize renewable biological resources. In recent years, bioeconomy has been an attractive concept for achieving the SDGs. Microalgae are one of the biological resources that show promise in realizing the “5F”s (food, fiber, feed, fertilizer, and fuel). Among the microalgae, Euglena gracilis has the potential for achieving the “5F”s strategy owing to its unique features, such as production of paramylon, that are lacking in other microalgae. E. gracilis has already been produced on an industrial scale for use as an ingredient in functional foods and cosmetics. In recent years, genetic engineering methods for breeding E. gracilis have been researched and developed to achieve higher yields. In this article, we summarize how microalgae contribute toward achieving the SDGs. We focus on the contribution of E. gracilis to the bioeconomy, including its advantages in industrial use as well as its unique characteristics. In addition, we review genetic engineering-related research trends centered on E. gracilis , including a complete nuclear genome determination project, genome editing technology using the CRISPR-Cas9 system, and the development of a screening method for selecting useful strains. In particular, genome editing in E. gracilis could be a breakthrough for molecular breeding of industrially useful strains because of its high efficiency.

Euglena Gracilis and β-Glucan Paramylon Induce Ca2+ Signaling in Intestinal Tract Epithelial, Immune, and Neural Cells

“…Although the mechanisms underlying our observations remain unclear, the ability of Euglena to excite neurons may underlie its beneficial effects on health-related Quality of Life observed in human subjects [45]. In the near future, after the components involved in Euglena responsible for these signaling responses have been identified and a method for extracting the active ingredients has been established, Euglena can be utilized to produce useful ingredients on an industrial scale [57].…”

Exploring the Mangrove Fruit: From the Phytochemicals to Functional Food Development and the Current Progress in the Middle East

“…Referring to sustainable development growth proposed by the United Nations, a new strategy is required to solve the world’s hunger either by a physical, political, or economic approach. In the physical aspect, the concepts of bioeconomy in the food industry arise by utilizing the material from renewable resources [ 146 ]. Fruits such as mangrove fruit come as an option with their richness of phytochemicals.…”

Euglena International Network (EIN): Driving euglenoids into the biotechnology world

“…A large genome of up to 3Gb, with nearly 40, 000 protein coding genes, together with additional complexity due to alternate splicing, potentially underpins the wealth of natural products produced (Ebenezer, et al, 2019). These combined basic science and translational aspects of euglenoids can be maximized and fully explored, but are limited by the primitive nature of current genetic tools (Harada, et al, 2020). The development of genetic tools for euglenoids is hampered by lack of a high quality reference genome for any species of euglenoid -this has remained a challenge due to overall size and a considerable frequency of repetitive sequence.…”