Strain Development in Microalgal Biotechnology-Random Mutagenesis Techniques

Microalgal biomass and metabolites can be used as a renewable source of nutrition, pharmaceuticals and energy to maintain or improve the quality of human life. Microalgae's high volumetric productivity and low impact on the environment make them a promising raw material in terms of both ecology and economics. To optimize biotechnological processes with microalgae, improving the productivity and robustness of the cell factories is a major step towards economically viable bioprocesses. This review provides an overview of random mutagenesis techniques that are applied to microalgal cell factories, with a particular focus on physical and chemical mutagens, mutagenesis conditions and mutant characteristics.

Automated summary

Microalgal biomass and metabolites have great potential as a renewable source of nutrition, pharmaceuticals, and energy for improving the quality of human life. Their high volumetric productivity and minimal environmental impact make them an attractive raw material both ecologically and economically. Enhancing the productivity and robustness of microalgal cell factories is a crucial step towards economically viable bioprocesses, and this review provides an overview of the techniques used for random mutagenesis in these cell factories, focusing on physical and chemical mutagens, mutagenesis conditions, and mutant characteristics.