Genetic and metabolic engineering in diatoms

Area of Science:

• Marine biology
• Biotechnology
• Genetics

Background:

• Diatoms exhibit remarkable adaptation to diverse environments, likely due to complex evolutionary origins.
• Their metabolism is crucial for understanding adaptation and for metabolic engineering.
• Diatoms are industrially significant due to natural products (lipids, carotenoids) and recombinant protein production.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advances in genetic engineering methods for diatoms.
• To highlight the impact of these advances on basic and applied research.
• To showcase the potential for modifying diatom metabolism for industrial applications.

Main Methods:

• Overview of gene expression cassettes and gene delivery systems.
• Discussion of cutting-edge genome-editing technologies for diatoms.
• Synthesis of recent developments in diatom genetic engineering.

Main Results:

• Development of a profusion of tools for exploring and exploiting diatom metabolism.
• Improved understanding of key diatom physiological processes.
• Enabled modification of natural diatom metabolism for targeted compound production.

Conclusions:

• Genetic engineering tools have significantly advanced diatom research.
• These tools facilitate the optimization of diatoms for green chemistry and pharmaceutical applications.
• Diatoms hold great promise for industrial biotechnology through engineered metabolic pathways.