Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Apr 25:8:515.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00515. eCollection 2017.

Uncovering Potential Applications of Cyanobacteria and Algal Metabolites in Biology, Agriculture and Medicine: Current Status and Future Prospects

Rachana Singh  1 , Parul Parihar  1 , Madhulika Singh  1 , Andrzej Bajguz  2 , Jitendra Kumar  1 , Samiksha Singh  1 , Vijay P Singh  3 , Sheo M Prasad  1
Affiliations
Review

Uncovering Potential Applications of Cyanobacteria and Algal Metabolites in Biology, Agriculture and Medicine: Current Status and Future Prospects

Rachana Singh et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Cyanobacteria and algae having complex photosynthetic systems can channelize absorbed solar energy into other forms of energy for production of food and metabolites. In addition, they are promising biocatalysts and can be used in the field of "white biotechnology" for enhancing the sustainable production of food, metabolites, and green energy sources such as biodiesel. In this review, an endeavor has been made to uncover the significance of various metabolites like phenolics, phytoene/terpenoids, phytols, sterols, free fatty acids, photoprotective compounds (MAAs, scytonemin, carotenoids, polysaccharides, halogenated compounds, etc.), phytohormones, cyanotoxins, biocides (algaecides, herbicides, and insecticides) etc. Apart from this, the importance of these metabolites as antibiotics, immunosuppressant, anticancer, antiviral, anti-inflammatory agent has also been discussed. Metabolites obtained from cyanobacteria and algae have several biotechnological, industrial, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic uses which have also been discussed in this review along with the emerging technology of their harvesting for enhancing the production of compounds like bioethanol, biofuel etc. at commercial level. In later sections, we have discussed genetically modified organisms and metabolite production from them. We have also briefly discussed the concept of bioprocessing highlighting the functioning of companies engaged in metabolites production as well as their cost effectiveness and challenges that are being addressed by these companies.

Keywords: algae; biofuel; cyanobacteria; cyanotoxins; food products; pharmaceuticals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Main pathways for the biosynthesis of some secondary as well-primary (carbohydrate, starch, alcohol, etc.) metabolites in eukaryote (❶) and prokaryote (❷) (modified after Burja et al., ; Oliver et al., 2016).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures and significance of polyphenols: (A) cinamic acid, (B) hydroxy-benzoic acid, (C) flavonoids, (D) lignans, and (E) tocopherols obtained from different cyanobacteria and algae.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chemical structures and significance of terpenoid/ phytoene: (A) ubiquinone, (B) ergosterol, (C) phytol, and (D) lutein obtained from different cyanobacteria and algae.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Chemical structures and significance of photoprotective compounds: (A) asterina-330, (B) mycosporine-glycine, (C) palythine, (D) palythinol, (E) porphyra-334, (F) shinorine, (G) β-carotene, (H) astaxanthin, and (I) scytonemin obtained from different cyanobacteria and algae.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Chemical structures and significance of phycocolloid compound: (A) carrageenan, (B) agar, and (C) alginate polymer obtained from different cyanobacteria and algae.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Chemical structures and significance of halogenated compound: (A) bromoanaindolone, (B) plocoralide A, (C) grenadamides B, (D) grenadamides C, and (E) 3-bromo-nanonoic acid polymer obtained from different cyanobacteria and algae.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Chemical structures of cyanotoxins: (A) microcystin-LR, (B) nodularin, (C) saxitoxin (D) anatoxin- a, and (E) cylinderosprmopsin obtained from different cyanobacteria.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Processes of biodiesel and bioethanol production from microalgae (modified from Dragone et al., 2010).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abarzua S., Jakubowski S., Eckert S., Fuchs P. (1999). Biotechnological investigation for the prevention of marine biofouling II. Blue-green algae as potential producers of biogenic agents for the growth inhibition of microfouling organisms. Botanica Mar. 42, 459–465. 10.1515/BOT.1999.053 - DOI
    1. Abdo S. M., Mona H. H., Waleed M. E., Rawheya A. S. E. D., Gamila H. A. (2012). Antiviral activity of freshwater algae. J. Appl. Pharm. Sci. 2, 21–25. Available online at: http://imsear.li.mahidol.ac.th/bitstream/123456789/151107/1/japs2012v2n2...
    1. Adeyemi M. M. H. (2011). A review of secondary metabolites from plant materials for post harvest storage. Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol. 6, 94–102.
    1. Al-Saif S. S., Abdel-Raouf N., El-Wazanani H. A., Aref I. A. (2014). Antibacterial substances from marine algae isolated from Jeddah coast of Red sea, Saudi Arabia. Saudi J. Biol. Sci. 21, 57–64. 10.1016/j.sjbs.2013.06.001 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Tebrineh J., Mihali T. K., Pomati F., Neilan B. A. (2010). Detection of saxitoxin-producing cyanobacteria and Anabaena circinalis in environmental water blooms by quantitative PCR. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 76, 7836–7842. 10.1128/AEM.00174-10 - DOI - PMC - PubMed