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Review
. 2024 May 9;22(5):216.
doi: 10.3390/md22050216.

Engineering Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Microalgae: Recent Progress and Perspectives

Yanhui Song  1   2 , Fangzhong Wang  1   2   3 , Lei Chen  1   2 , Weiwen Zhang  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Engineering Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Microalgae: Recent Progress and Perspectives

Yanhui Song et al. Mar Drugs. .

Abstract

Microalgal lipids hold significant potential for the production of biodiesel and dietary supplements. To enhance their cost-effectiveness and commercial competitiveness, it is imperative to improve microalgal lipid productivity. Metabolic engineering that targets the key enzymes of the fatty acid synthesis pathway, along with transcription factor engineering, are effective strategies for improving lipid productivity in microalgae. This review provides a summary of the advancements made in the past 5 years in engineering the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway in eukaryotic microalgae. Furthermore, this review offers insights into transcriptional regulatory mechanisms and transcription factor engineering aimed at enhancing lipid production in eukaryotic microalgae. Finally, the review discusses the challenges and future perspectives associated with utilizing microalgae for the efficient production of lipids.

Keywords: fatty acid biosynthetic pathway; genetic engineering; lipid production; microalgae; transcription factor; transcriptional regulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Strategies for engineering fatty acid biosynthetic pathway in eukaryotic microalgae. Pathways marked in red facilitate the biosynthesis of lipids. Pathways marked in blue repress the biosynthesis of lipids.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Further directions for increasing fatty acid production in microalgae. (A) Optimizing gene transformation efficiency; (B) increasing homologous recombination efficiency; (C) developing effective gene editing tools; (D) AI-assisted protein design; (E) genome-scale identification of new genes beneficial to lipid production; (F) in-depth exploration of transcriptional network; (G) construction of artificial transcriptional factors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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