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Marine Drugs
Special Issues
Synthetic Biology in Marine Microalgae
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Synthetic Biology in Marine Microalgae

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Biotechnology Related to Drug Discovery or Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 2186

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Yi Xin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Marine Biology and Fisheries, Hainan University, Haikou, China
Interests: microalgae; lipid metabolism; synthetic biology; metabolic engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine microalgae are attracting renewed interest from both the scientific and public communities, owing to their potential applications as sustainable feed stock for the production of biofuels and high-value compounds. Compared with traditional crops, marine microalgae have the advantages of rapid growth, high lipid content, the non-occupation of arable land, etc. Therefore, marine microalgae are considered to be ideal chassis for the high production of endogenous or heterogenous compounds. Synthetic biology has emerged as a powerful tool for engineering biological systems to produce valuable compounds, including pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. Marine microalgae, in particular, endow a promising platform for the production of bioactive compounds, due to considerable omics data and efficient toolkits for genetic engineering. The present Special Issue, edited by Dr. Yi Xin, will focus on resources, products, technologies, and approaches for synthetic biology in marine microalgae.

Dr. Yi Xin
Guest Editor

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Marine Drugs 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 2900 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.

Keywords

  • marine microalgae
  • high-value compounds
  • biomass
  • photosynthesis
  • synthetic biology
  • function modules
  • genetic engineering
  • metabolic engineering
  • conditional expression
  • stress response

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 7480 KiB  
Article
Effect of Heterologous Expression of Key Enzymes Involved in Astaxanthin and Lipid Synthesis on Lipid and Carotenoid Production in Aurantiochytrium sp.
by Yaping Shao, Zhengquan Gao, Fengjie Sun, Yulin Cui, Xinyu Zou, Jinju Ma, Qiaolei Wang, Hao Zhang, Yuyong Wu and Chunxiao Meng
Mar. Drugs 2025, 23(4), 164; https://doi.org/10.3390/md23040164 - 11 Apr 2025
Viewed by 545
Abstract
Aurantiochytrium sp., a heterotrophic microorganism, has received increasing attention for its high production of polyunsaturated fatty acids and has been widely applied in various industries. This study intended to optimize the carotenoid synthesis pathway in Aurantiochytrium sp. by metabolic engineering to increase the [...] Read more.
Aurantiochytrium sp., a heterotrophic microorganism, has received increasing attention for its high production of polyunsaturated fatty acids and has been widely applied in various industries. This study intended to optimize the carotenoid synthesis pathway in Aurantiochytrium sp. by metabolic engineering to increase the carotenoid content. Multi-sourced key enzyme genes involved in lipid synthesis (LPAAT and DGAT) and astaxanthin synthesis (crtZ and crtW) were selected to construct single-gene expression vectors and transformed into Aurantiochytrium sp. The results showed that the overexpression of LPAAT of Phaeodactylum tricornutum in Aurantiochytrium sp. caused an increase of 39.3% in astaxanthin, 424.7% in β-carotene, 901.8% in canthaxanthin, and 575.9% in lutein, as well as a down-regulation of 15.3% in the fatty acid content. Transcriptomics analysis revealed enhanced expression of genes involved in purine and amino acid metabolism in the transformed strains, and the down-regulation of the citric acid cycle led to an increase in the source of acetyl coenzyme A for the production of fatty acids. This study provides strong experimental evidence to support the application of increasing carotenoid levels in Aurantiochytrium sp. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthetic Biology in Marine Microalgae)
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15 pages, 5680 KiB  
Article
Enhanced Eicosapentaenoic Acid Production via Synthetic Biological Strategy in Nannochloropsis oceanica
by Congcong Miao, Mingting Du, Hongchao Du, Tao Xu, Shan Wu, Xingwei Huang, Xitao Chen, Suxiang Lei and Yi Xin
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(12), 570; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22120570 - 19 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1180
Abstract
The rational dietary ratio of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) can exert neurotrophic and cardiotrophic effects on the human body. The marine microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica produces EPA yet no DHA, and thus, it is considered an ideal EPA-only model to pursue [...] Read more.
The rational dietary ratio of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) can exert neurotrophic and cardiotrophic effects on the human body. The marine microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica produces EPA yet no DHA, and thus, it is considered an ideal EPA-only model to pursue a rational DHA/EPA ratio. In this study, synthetic biological strategy was applied to improve EPA production in N. oceanica. Firstly, to identify promoters and terminators, fifteen genes from N. oceanica were isolated using a transcriptomic approach. Compared to α-tubulin, NO08G03500, NO03G03480 and NO22G01450 exhibited 1.2~1.3-fold increases in transcription levels. Secondly, to identify EPA-synthesizing modules, putative desaturases (NoFADs) and elongases (NoFAEs) were overexpressed by the NO08G03500 and NO03G03480 promoters/terminators in N. oceanica. Compared to the wild type (WT), NoFAD1770 and NoFAE0510 overexpression resulted in 47.7% and 40.6% increases in EPA yields, respectively. Thirdly, to store EPA in triacylglycerol (TAG), NoDGAT2K was overexpressed using the NO22G01450 promoter/terminator, along with NoFAD1770–NoFAE0510 stacking, forming transgenic line XS521. Compared to WT, TAG-EPA content increased by 154.8% in XS521. Finally, to inhibit TAG-EPA degradation, a TAG lipase-encoding gene NoTGL1990 was knocked out in XS521, leading to a 49.2–65.3% increase in TAG-EPA content. Our work expands upon EPA-enhancing approaches through synthetic biology in microalgae and potentially crops. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthetic Biology in Marine Microalgae)
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