Biotechnology in ciliates: an overview

Since their description and classification in the 19th century, ciliates have played an important role in science, leading to several fundamental discoveries in the areas of cellular and molecular biology. During the last decades, with the emergence of biotechnology, many new developments are also coming to light. In this review, we describe a range of applications in which ciliates have found a niche, ranging from the production of a vast array of proteins, lipids, metabolites, and antigens to their use in toxicity screening, biocontrol, bioremediation, and biotransformation of substrates into more valuable products. We highlight the benefits and drawbacks of their use in biotechnology, the latest developments in large-scale culture and state-of-the-art molecular-genetic techniques, as well as the estimations on the exploitation areas with better potential, i.e., the production of complex membrane proteins, and those less interesting or with less chances of success.