From oleaginous microalga to marine chassis: synthetic biology and process-aware biomanufacturing in Nannochloropsis.

Authors

Hao Wang, Jin Liu

Published in

Biotechnology advances. Pages 109079. Oct 17, 2026. Epub Oct 17, 2026.

Abstract

Nannochloropsis has developed from an oleaginous marine microalga valued mainly for eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)-rich lipids into a credible candidate for marine photosynthetic biomanufacturing. Its toolkit now spans genome resources, efficient nuclear transformation, homologous recombination, CRISPR/Cas editing, marker recycling, defined integration sites, and modular multigene assembly. Researchers have used these capabilities to alter carbon allocation, triacylglycerol accumulation, EPA synthesis and lipid-class partitioning, carotenoid metabolism, recombinant-protein production, specialty-metabolite formation, and cultivation robustness. This review assesses whether these advances are sufficient to support Nannochloropsis as a predictable, reusable, and process-aware chassis. The evidence shows that the genus has moved beyond basic transformability. Targeted genome modification and pathway construction are feasible, and native and non-native products have reached biologically relevant and, in some cases, process-relevant levels. However, outcomes remain strongly influenced by genomic locus, strain background, intracellular compartment, physiological state, and cultivation regime. Platform maturation will therefore depend on reusable genomic architectures, reliable organelle-targeting rules, dynamic regulation, and phenotyping suited to iterative design-build-test-learn workflows. Strain design must also be coupled more closely to cultivation, harvesting, product recovery, and deployment. Product-specific chassis configurations are likely to be more practical than a universal strain for EPA-rich oils, pigments, recombinant products, and specialty metabolites. Nannochloropsis thus provides a useful test of how an industrially relevant, non-model photosynthetic eukaryote can become a more designable marine production host.

PMID:
42892548
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Oct 2026.

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