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Advanced Technologies for Protein Complex Production and Characterization pp 241–262Cite as

Microalgae as Solar-Powered Protein Factories

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 896))

Abstract

Microalgae have an enormous ecological relevance as they contribute significantly to global carbon fixation. But also for biotechnology microalgae became increasingly interesting during the last decades as many algae provide valuable natural products. Especially the high lipid content of some species currently attracts much attention in the biodiesel industry. A further application that emerged some years ago is the use of microalgae as expression platform for recombinant proteins. Several projects on the production of therapeutics, vaccines and feed supplements demonstrated the great potential of using microalgae as novel low-cost expression platform. This review provides an overview on the prospects and advantages of microalgal protein expression systems and gives an outlook on potential future applications.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. Stefan Zauner (Marburg) for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the LOEWE program of the state of Hesse, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LOEWE Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO), Hans-Meerwein-Strasse, Marburg, 35043, Germany

    Franziska Hempel & Uwe G. Maier

  2. Laboratory for Cell Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8, Marburg, 35043, Germany

    Uwe G. Maier

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  1. Franziska Hempel
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  2. Uwe G. Maier
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Correspondence to Uwe G. Maier .

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  1. Center for Biological Research, SpanishNationalResearchCouncil(CIB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain

    M. Cristina Vega

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Hempel, F., Maier, U.G. (2016). Microalgae as Solar-Powered Protein Factories. In: Vega, M. (eds) Advanced Technologies for Protein Complex Production and Characterization. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 896. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27216-0_16

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