Author/Authors :
A. Fathy, Wael Botany and Microbiology Department - Faculty of Science - Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt , Essawy, Ehab Chemistry Department - Faculty of Science - Helwan University, Helwan, Egypt , Tawfik, Eman Botany and Microbiology Department - Faculty of Science - Helwan University, Helwan, Egypt , Omar, Rania Department - Faculty of Science - Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt , S. Abdelhameed, Mohamed Botany and Microbiology Department - Faculty of Science - Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt , Hammouda, Ola Botany and Microbiology Department - Faculty of Science - Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt , Abdel-Raouf, Neveen Botany and Microbiology Department - Faculty of Science - Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt , N.M. Elsayed, Khaled Botany and Microbiology Department - Faculty of Science - Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt
Abstract :
Rapid population growth globally and urbanization have caused a significant drop in fossil fuel
feedstocks, pushing countries to seek alternative sources. Microalgae are a feasible biofuel feedstock due
to their high photosynthetic efficiency, which gives various potential benefits for the environmentally
friendly biofuel production process, besides the high biomass productivity strains required for a long-
term integrated platform. Consequently, modifying lipid metabolic pathways to increase lipid production
in microalgae cells consider a viable strategy. Overexpression and transformation of key genes involved
in lipid biosynthesis are regarded to be crucial methods for increasing lipid production. Whereas
transformation and gene editing are two approaches affecting these alterations, that have been sufficiently
established in microalgae, transforming these strains into a very adaptive stage for successfully designing
ways to produce biofuel. The current mini-review focuses on potential strategies for improving microalgae
metabolic engineering, specifically lipogenesis, by regulated overexpression of native genes or transgenes
such as acetyl coenzyme-A carboxylase, diacylglycerol acyltransferase, and malic enzyme genes, as well
as current limitations and gaps and future directions.
Keywords :
Metabolic engineering , Gene transfer , Biofuel , Acetyl coenzyme-A carboxylase , Diacylglycerol acyltransferase
