Cyanobacteria: A Precious Bio-resource in Agriculture, Ecosystem, and Environmental Sustainability
TL;DR: This review is an effort to enlist the valuable information about the qualities of cyanobacteria and their potential role in solving the agricultural and environmental problems for the future welfare of the planet.
Abstract: Keeping in view the challenges concerning agro-ecosystem and environment, the recent developments in biotechnology offers a more reliable approach to address the food security for future generations and also resolve the complex environmental problems. Several unique features of cyanobacteria such as oxygenic photosynthesis, high biomass yield, growth on non-arable lands and a wide variety of water sources (contaminated and polluted waters), generation of useful by-products and bio-fuels, enhancing the soil fertility and reducing green house gas emissions, have collectively offered these bio-agents as the precious bio-resource for sustainable development. Cyanobacterial biomass is the effective bio-fertilizer source to improve soil physico-chemical characteristics such as water-holding capacity and mineral nutrient status of the degraded lands. The unique characteristics of cyanobacteria include their ubiquity presence, short generation time and capability to fix the atmospheric N2. Similar to other prokaryotic bacteria, the cyanobacteria are increasingly applied as bio-inoculants for improving soil fertility and environmental quality. Genetically engineered cyanobacteria have been devised with the novel genes for the production of a number of bio-fuels such as bio-diesel, bio-hydrogen, bio-methane, syngas and therefore, open new avenues for the generation of bio-fuels in the economically sustainable manner. This review is an effort to enlist the valuable information about the qualities of cyanobacteria and their potential role in solving the agricultural and environmental problems for the future welfare of the planet.
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TL;DR: In this article, the role of soil-plant-microbe interactions along with organic manure in solving stressed agriculture problems is described, and the application of organic manure as a soil conditioner to stressed soils along with suitable microbial strains could further enhance the plant microbe associations and increase the crop yield.
233 citations
Cites background from "Cyanobacteria: A Precious Bio-resou..."
...178 S. R. VIMAL et al. interactions have been reported among plants and microorganisms in the environment and the derived ecosystem functions (Cosme and Wurst, 2013; Nadeem et al., 2014; Rashid et al., 2016; Singh et al., 2016a, b, c)....
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TL;DR: The present review focuses on the beneficial activities of cyanobacterial molecules described so far and selected and specifically described 47 molecule families according to their respective bioactivities and their potential uses in pharmacology, cosmetology, agriculture, or other specific fields of interest.
Abstract: Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms that colonize diverse environments worldwide, ranging from ocean to freshwaters, soils, and extreme environments. Their adaptation capacities and the diversity of natural products that they synthesize, support cyanobacterial success in colonization of their respective ecological niches. Although cyanobacteria are well-known for their toxin production and their relative deleterious consequences, they also produce a large variety of molecules that exhibit beneficial properties with high potential in various fields (e.g., a synthetic analog of dolastatin 10 is used against Hodgkin's lymphoma). The present review focuses on the beneficial activities of cyanobacterial molecules described so far. Based on an analysis of 670 papers, it appears that more than 90 genera of cyanobacteria have been observed to produce compounds with potentially beneficial activities in which most of them belong to the orders Oscillatoriales, Nostocales, Chroococcales, and Synechococcales. The rest of the cyanobacterial orders (i.e., Pleurocapsales, Chroococcidiopsales, and Gloeobacterales) remain poorly explored in terms of their molecular diversity and relative bioactivity. The diverse cyanobacterial metabolites possessing beneficial bioactivities belong to 10 different chemical classes (alkaloids, depsipeptides, lipopeptides, macrolides/lactones, peptides, terpenes, polysaccharides, lipids, polyketides, and others) that exhibit 14 major kinds of bioactivity. However, no direct relationship between the chemical class and the respective bioactivity of these molecules has been demonstrated. We further selected and specifically described 47 molecule families according to their respective bioactivities and their potential uses in pharmacology, cosmetology, agriculture, or other specific fields of interest. With this up-to-date review, we attempt to present new perspectives for the rational discovery of novel cyanobacterial metabolites with beneficial bioactivity.
161 citations
Cites background from "Cyanobacteria: A Precious Bio-resou..."
...Cyanobacteria produce 85 families of metabolites isolated from various strains, which display potent antimicrobial activity (representing a third of the 260 molecule families listed in the database) [18]....
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...Concerning bioactivity, cyanobacteria have long been a source of molecules with a potent nutritional property [18]....
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...For potential applications in agriculture, cyanobacterial compounds could be useful for alternative soil fertilization methods and as chemical pesticides [18]....
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...Cyanobacteria cells represent a sustainable resource for biotechnology due to their photosynthetic, N-fixation, and autotrophic capacities [17,18,24]....
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TL;DR: The key ecological factors which stabilize the SMB and minimize its turnover, are supposed to play an important role in the soil nutrient dynamics and productivity of the ecosystems.
159 citations
TL;DR: Advances made to translate synthetic biology tools into cyanobacterial model organisms are reviewed and experimental and in silico strategies that have been employed to increase their bioproduction potential are summarized.
Abstract: Cyanobacteria are promising microorganisms for sustainable biotechnologies, yet unlocking their potential requires radical re-engineering and application of cutting-edge synthetic biology techniques. In recent years, the available devices and strategies for modifying cyanobacteria have been increasing, including advances in the design of genetic promoters, ribosome binding sites, riboswitches, reporter proteins, modular vector systems, and markerless selection systems. Because of these new toolkits, cyanobacteria have been successfully engineered to express heterologous pathways for the production of a wide variety of valuable compounds. Cyanobacterial strains with the potential to be used in real-world applications will require the refinement of genetic circuits used to express the heterologous pathways and development of accurate models that predict how these pathways can be best integrated into the larger cellular metabolic network. Herein, we review advances that have been made to translate synthetic biology tools into cyanobacterial model organisms and summarize experimental and in silico strategies that have been employed to increase their bioproduction potential. Despite the advances in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering during the last years, it is clear that still further improvements are required if cyanobacteria are to be competitive with heterotrophic microorganisms for the bioproduction of added-value compounds.
149 citations
Cites background from "Cyanobacteria: A Precious Bio-resou..."
...Finally, biomass derived from cyanobacterial production processes could be used in animal feed supplements or converted into organic fertilizers, especially if cells are engineered for optimal nutritional and nutraceutical content (Singh et al., 2016)....
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TL;DR: The use of cyanobacteria as soil conditioners has been studied intermittently for many decades Some of the documented direct effects of the cyanobacterial inoculation are related to soil stabilization and improvement, enrichment in nutrients and increase in moisture content.
144 citations
References
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TL;DR: As demonstrated here, microalgae appear to be the only source of renewable biodiesel that is capable of meeting the global demand for transport fuels.
9,030 citations
"Cyanobacteria: A Precious Bio-resou..." refers methods in this paper
...Thus the use of these Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 10 April 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 529 biological agents is considered one of the effective approaches to reduce the concentration of atmospheric CO2 and thereby, to help in mitigation of possible global warming (Chisti, 2007)....
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TL;DR: This review restricts itself to bacteria that are derived from and exert this effect on the root and generally designated as PGPR (plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria), which can be direct or indirect in their effects on plant growth.
Abstract: Several microbes promote plant growth, and many microbial products that stimulate plant growth have been marketed. In this review we restrict ourselves to bacteria that are derived from and exert this effect on the root. Such bacteria are generally designated as PGPR (plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria). The beneficial effects of these rhizobacteria on plant growth can be direct or indirect. This review begins with describing the conditions under which bacteria live in the rhizosphere. To exert their beneficial effects, bacteria usually must colonize the root surface efficiently. Therefore, bacterial traits required for root colonization are subsequently described. Finally, several mechanisms by which microbes can act beneficially on plant growth are described. Examples of direct plant growth promotion that are discussed include (a) biofertilization, (b) stimulation of root growth, (c) rhizoremediation, and (d) plant stress control. Mechanisms of biological control by which rhizobacteria can promote plant growth indirectly, i.e., by reducing the level of disease, include antibiosis, induction of systemic resistance, and competition for nutrients and niches.
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1,817 citations
TL;DR: A helical tubular photobioreactor system, the BIOCOIL™, has been developed which allows these algae to be grown reliably outdoors at high cell densities in semi-continuous culture.
1,296 citations
"Cyanobacteria: A Precious Bio-resou..." refers background in this paper
...They can act as the nutritional supplement or represent a source of natural food colorants (Nelis and DeLeenheer, 1991; Borowitzka, 1999; Muller-Feuga, 2000; Branen et al., 2002; Becker, 2004; Rangel-Yagui et al., 2004; Bhaskar et al., 2005; Soletto et al., 2005)....
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TL;DR: The ability of these CO2 consuming microalgae to purify biogas and concentrate methane is discussed, and anaerobic digestion of the whole biomass appears to be the optimal strategy on an energy balance basis for the energetic recovery of cell biomass.
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