Cited by 61Microbial Metabolic Engineering and BioproductionCRISPR and Genetic EngineeringAlgal biology and biofuel production

Emerging Species and Genome Editing Tools: Future Prospects in Cyanobacterial Synthetic Biology

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Gale, Grant A. R., Schiavon Osorio, Alejandra A., Mills, Lauren A., Wang, Baojun, Lea-Smith, David J., McCormick, Alistair J.·2019·Microorganisms

Abstract

Recent advances in synthetic biology and an emerging algal biotechnology market have spurred a prolific increase in the availability of molecular tools for cyanobacterial research. Nevertheless, work to date has focused primarily on only a small subset of model species, which arguably limits fundamental discovery and applied research towards wider commercialisation. Here, we review the requirements for uptake of new strains, including several recently characterised fast-growing species and promising non-model species. Furthermore, we discuss the potential applications of new techniques available for transformation, genetic engineering and regulation, including an up-to-date appraisal of current Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR associated protein (CRISPR/Cas) and CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) research in cyanobacteria. We also provide an overview of several exciting molecular tools that could be ported to cyanobacteria for more advanced metabolic engineering approaches (e.g., genetic circuit design). Lastly, we introduce a forthcoming mutant library for the model species Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 that promises to provide a further powerful resource for the cyanobacterial research community.

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Crossref · 10.3390/microorganisms7100409

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  • The most extensively studied unicellular cyanobacterial strains are Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, and the most studied filamentous cyanobacterium is Anabaena sp. PCC 7120.

    “Most extensively studied unicellular cyanobacterial strains are Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, and the most studied filamentous cyanobacterium is Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 [20].”

    From Cyanobacteria as a Photosynthetic Chassis for Metabolic Pathway Engineering with Heterologous Gene Expression (2026) · cites this paper as [20]

    The Introduction identifies Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 as model cyanobacteria. Section 2.1 discusses research using PCC 7002, and Section 3.1 identifies Nostoc (Anabaena) PCC 7120 as a filamentous strain used in genome-editing studies. The paper does not establish that these are the most extensively studied unicellular strains or that PCC 7120 is the most studied filamentous strain. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  1. [68]Ohmori M. Ehira S. Spirulina: An example of cyanobacteria as nutraceuticals Cyanobacteria Sharma N.K. Rai A.K. Stal L.J. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Chichester, UK 2013 103 118 9781118402238

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Authors
Gale, G. A. R., Schiavon Osorio, A. A., Mills, L. A., Wang, B., Lea-Smith, D. J., & McCormick, A. J.
Affiliations
  • University of Edinburgh (GB)
  • Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3BF, UK
  • University of East Anglia (GB)
  • School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
Corresponding author
McCormick, Alistair J.
Venue
Microorganisms
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2019-09-29
Volume
7
Issue
10
Pages
409
ISSN
2076-2607 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2977031274
Cited by
61
References
264
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
FWCI
0.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Microorganisms (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • UK Research and Innovation (MR/S018875/1)
  • Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología
  • Directorate for Biological Sciences
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/M010996/1, BB/R506527/1, BB/S020128/1, M010996, 1802017, M010996/1, BB/S507404/1, BB/S020365/1, BB/N007212/1, BB/S020365)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
Keywords
cyanobacteria, synthetic biology, genome editing, CRISPR-Cas, CRISPR interference, non-model organisms, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, mutant library, genetic circuit design, metabolic engineering, algal biotechnology

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