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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Biotechnology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1419157
This article is part of the Research Topic Biotechnological Advances in the Sustainable Exploitation of Coastal Photosynthetic Organisms View all articles

Microalgae: towards human health from urban areas to space missions

Provisionally accepted
Xiulan Xie Xiulan Xie 1Abdul Jaleel Abdul Jaleel 2Jiasui Zhan Jiasui Zhan 3*Maozhi Ren Maozhi Ren 4*
  • 1 Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 2 Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Food and Agriculture, United Arab Emirates University, AlAin, United Arab Emirates
  • 3 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 4 Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Space exploration and interstellar migration are important strategies for long-term human survival. However, extreme environmental conditions, such as space radiation and microgravity, can cause adverse effects, including DNA damage, cerebrovascular disease, osteoporosis, and muscle atrophy, which would require prophylactic and remedial treatment en route. Production of oral drugs in situ is therefore critical for interstellar travel and can be achieved through industrial production utilizing microalgae, which offers high production efficiency, edibility, resource minimization, adaptability, stress tolerance, and genetic manipulation ease. Synthetic biological techniques using microalgae as a chassis offer several advantages in producing natural products, including availability of biosynthetic precursors, potential for synthesizing natural metabolites, superior quality and efficiency, environmental protection, and sustainable development. This article explores the advantages of bioproduction from microalgal chassis using synthetic biological techniques, suitability of microalgal bioreactor-based cell factories for producing value-added natural metabolites, and prospects and applications of microalgae in interstellar travel.

    Keywords: Interstellar migration, Microalgae, Natural Products, Synthetic Biology, extreme space environment

    Received: 19 Apr 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xie, Jaleel, Zhan and Ren. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jiasui Zhan, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 75651, Uppsala, Sweden
    Maozhi Ren, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.