High-value materials from microalgae = 미세조류 유래 고부가 유용물질

Abstract

Microalgae are a diverse group of photosynthetic organisms and abundant in every ecosystem in the biosphere. They are common in aqueous environments including marine, brackish and fresh waters and in some habitats that lack eukaryotic life such as some hot springs and highly alkaline lakes. Microalgal biotechnology that is focused on the microalgae-based production of a variety of useful materials such as pharmaceutical compounds, health foods, natural pigments, and biofuels is considered as an important discipline with the development of biotechnology. In addition, the mass cultivation of microalgae can also contribute to improving the environmental quality by reducing the concentration of CO2 which is one of major gases lead to global warming. Consequently, it seems that the microalgae can be used as an efficient, renewable, environmentally friendly source of high-value biomaterials such as chemicals, pigments, energy, etc. and the microalgal biotechnology will most likely represent a larger portion of modern biotechnology.