Interactions of microalgae and other microorganisms for enhanced production of high-value compounds

Abstract

The cultivation of microalgae for the production of biomass and associated valuable compounds has gained increasing interest not only within the scientific community but also at the industrial level. Microalgae cells are capable of producing high-value compounds that are widely used in food, feed, pharmaceutical, medical, nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, and aquaculture industries. For example, lipids produced by algae can be converted to biodiesel, other fuels and bio-products. Hence, high oil content algal biomass has been regarded as a potential alternative feedstock to replace terrestrial crops for sustainable production of bio-products. It has been reported that the interaction of microalgae and other microorganisms greatly enhances the efficiency of microalgal biomass production and its chemical composition. Microalgae-bacteria interaction with an emphasis on the nature of symbiotic relationship in mutualisitc and parasitic consortia has been extensively studied. For instance, it is well documented that production of vitamins or growth promoting factors by bacteria enhances the growth of microalgae. Little attention has been paid to the consortia formed by microalgae and other microorganisms such as other microalgae strains, cyanobacteria, fungi, and yeasts. Hence, the aim of this review is to investigate the impact of the microalgae-other microorganism interactions on the production of high value compounds.