Perspectives of cyanobacterial cell factories

Abstract

Cyanobacteria are prokaryotic photosynthetic microorganisms that can generate, in addition to biomass, useful chemicals and proteins/enzymes, essentially from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water. Selected aspects of cyanobacterial production (isoprenoids and high-value proteins) and scale-up methods suitable for product generation and downstream processing are addressed in this review. The work focuses on the challenge and promise of specialty chemicals and proteins production, with isoprenoid products and biopharma proteins as study cases, and the challenges encountered in the expression of recombinant proteins/enzymes, which underline the essence of synthetic biology with these microorganisms. Progress and the current state-of-the-art in these targeted topics are emphasized.

Cas9 deletion of lutein biosynthesis in the marine alga Picochlorum celeri reduces photosynthetic pigments while sustaining high biomass productivity

“…While we believe the lutein-deficient (LCYe) strain generated in this study might be of value during the summer season and should be tested for outdoor cultivation, significant limitations might arise in fluctuating light and temperature conditions, and particularly in cold weather when NPQ processes might be hampered ( Manjre et al, 2022 ), making this strain not suitable for winter cultivation in cold climates. Beyond the pigment reduction strategy explored in this work, additional improvements will be needed to increase growth rates and biomass yields to make algae a viable solution for biofuels and specialty products generation that will include genetic engineering of algal physiology and metabolic networks, strain selection as well as optimization of cultivation techniques ( Melis, Hidalgo Martinez, and Betterle, 2023 ).…”

The Specificities of Lysophosphatidic Acid Acyltransferase and Fatty Acid Desaturase Determine the High Content of Myristic and Myristoleic Acids in Cyanobacterium sp. IPPAS B-1200

“…Cyanobacteria are fast-growing cells that are cultured in photobioreactors that produce substantial amounts of biomass for various purposes [26]. In particular, Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 is often used for "light-driven autotrophic cell factories" to produce biofuels and various fine chemicals directly from CO 2 [27].…”