Publication

Reconstruction of the microalga Nannochloropsis salina genome-scale metabolic model with applications to lipid production

Nicolás Loira, Sebastian Mendoza, María Paz Cortés, Natalia Rojas, Dante Travisany, Alex Di Genova, Natalia Gajardo, Nicole Ehrenfeld, Alejandro Maass

July 2017 BMC Systems Biology
Abstract

Study summary

Nannochloropsis salina (= Eustigmatophyceae) is a marine microalga which has become a biotechnological target because of its high capacity to produce polyunsaturated fatty acids and triacylglycerols. It has been used as a source of biofuel, pigments and food supplements, like Omega 3. Only some Nannochloropsis species have been sequenced, but none of them benefit from a genome-scale metabolic model (GSMM), able to predict its metabolic capabilities.