Acronym NA
Category
Marine Biotechnology
Title Novel microbes for high level production of the omega3-fatty acid DHA and astaxanthin from biomass feedstocks Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Trygve Brautaset Coordinator email Trygve.Brautaset@sintef.no
Coordinator institution
SINTEF - SINTEF (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2013 End year 2017 Funding (€) € 1,360,500 Website https://prosjektbanken.forskningsradet.no/en/project/FORISS/227005?Kilde=FORISS&distribution=Ar&chart=bar&calcType=funding&Sprak=no&sortBy=date&sortOrder=desc&resultCount=30&offset=90&Organisasjon.3=STIFTELSEN+SINTEF&source=FORISS&projectId=315032 Summary Fish as food for human consumption is associated with health benefits, and one reason for this is the high content of omega3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which originates from the feed. For the fish farming industry it is therefore of critical imp ortance to have access to sufficient quantities of these compounds, in particular DHA. There are several options for solving the problem, but most of them face serious economic or technical obstacles. Here we propose to study a group of heterotrophic micr oalgae, the thraustochytrids, which we believe represents currently the most realistic DHA source for the fish farming industry. Thraustochytrids are already used for production of PUFAs with a very high efficiency for direct human consumption. As a sourc e for fish feed the main problem is that the relative DHA content must be significantly increased, and here we propose innovative ways to achieve this in strains that simultaneously produce the important feed additive pigment astaxanthin. The main scienti fic challenge is that the basic understanding of the thraustochytrid biology is very limited, as for example not even genome sequences have been reported. This is obviously no longer a technical problem to overcome, so we propose that the timing is now ri ght to establish genome sequences and use 'omics technologies to obtain a detailed understanding of PUFA and carotenoid biosynthesis. Gene modification technologies are to some extent available and we will expand the potential of such methods. Evolutionar y engineering will be used to select strains with the desired phenotypes from a library of randomly distributed mutants, and inverse metabolic engineering will be used to characterize the identified mutations. Various carbon sources can be used for cultiv ation of thraustochytrids, and in this project we will investigate the potential of using raw materials that are available in large quantities, and that originate from agriculture or marine sea-weeds.
Keywords
Engineering;
Algae;
Bioactive compounds;
Waste valorization;
Wastes;
Land-based aquaculture;
Animal feed;
Bioprospecting;
Genetic;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
Marine Region Map
