Metabolic Materials from Cyanobacteria and Microalgae: Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biotherapeutics

The increasing demand for natural bioactive compounds has prompted researchers to explore novel sources of valuable metabolites. Gram-negative photosynthetic bacteria are class one cyanobacterial prokaryotes with the capacity to recycle organic materials. It has emerged as a hallmark resource to combat global warming, disease prevention agents, nutrition insecurity, and energy crises, and also as a biotherapeutic agent. More than 45–50% of cyanobacteria are cultivated on commercial platforms to extract active metabolites and bioactive compounds. In this review, we discuss the versatile and potential metabolic material applications of cyanobacteria and microalgae in various fields of modern biotechnology to deal with issues of nutrition, biofuel production, and pharmaceutical industry raw materials through engineering innovations.