Microalgae Metabolites

Dear Colleagues,

Microalgae and their extracts represent a vast and unexplored source of compounds with biological activity. These compounds show nutraceutical, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, aggregative, vasoconstricting, hypocholesterolemic, antioxidant, immunosuppressive, photoprotective, and neurotransmitting activities. Although hundreds of these metabolites have been identified in cultures of photosynthetic microorganisms, the induction of synthesis is unknown in most cases, the separation and recovery of the compounds need to be optimized and, thus, their inclusion into commercial products awaits further research and development. Chemically, the compounds with biological activity can be grouped into proteins/enzymes, fatty acids, sterols, pigments, vitamins, alkaloids, mycosporine-like amino acids, and other compounds not fitting into these aforementioned categories. This Special Issue is dedicated to all aspects of the production of specialty chemicals from microalgae, covering the selecting of the species, the definition of the culture conditions, isolating and purifying the target molecule, and demonstration of the biological activity through clinical tests.

Dr. Eduardo Jacob-Lopes
Dr. Leila Queiroz Zepka
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.