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Facets of diatom biology and their potential applications

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Abstract

Diatoms are the reservoir of bioactive compounds which have immense application in nutrition, industrial commodities and ecological studies. In the oceans, diatoms form a large bloom of silica under favourable conditions, whereas, in lentic and lotic systems, they colonize according to seasonal disturbances. Notably, the survival of diatoms in a stressed environment is because of their uniqueness; therefore, diatoms serve as an ideal candidate to understand the evolutionary paradigm and successional dynamics. This review outlines the biological uniqueness of diatoms, their role in biogeochemical cycles and the recolonization pattern of diatoms in anthropic disturbed habitats. Furthermore, a detailed discussion on different technologies for extracting valuable biomolecules with an emphasis on lipid extraction has been carried out. Moreover, the diatom-based photosynthetic biorefinery approach for a better understanding of the renewable usage of biomass is done.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank our colleagues for their constructive critical comments and suggestions that significantly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700019, India

    Navonil Mal

  2. Department of Botany, Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005, India

    Kanishka Srivastava

  3. Department of Biotechnology, St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560027, India

    Yagya Sharma

  4. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, 390002, India

    Meenakshi Singh

  5. School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Joyeong-dong, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, 38541, South Korea

    Kummara Madhusudana Rao

  6. Department of Automotive Lighting Convergence Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Joyeong-dong, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, 38541, South Korea

    Kummara Madhusudana Rao

  7. Bioserve Biotechnologies (India) Pvt. Ltd., Unit: D4-7, 1st Floor, Industrial Estate, Moula Ali, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500040, India

    Manoj Kumar Enamala

  8. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea

    K. Chandrasekhar

  9. PG Department of Chemistry, Dharma Appa Rao College (DARC), Krishna District, Nuzvid, Andhra Pradesh, 521201, India

    Murthy Chavali

  10. NTRC-MCETRC and Aarshanano Composite Technologies Pvt. Ltd., District, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India

    Murthy Chavali

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  1. Navonil Mal
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  6. Manoj Kumar Enamala
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  7. K. Chandrasekhar
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Highlights

• Diatoms are unique photoautotrophs with promising biomolecules, useful in several biological applications

• Diatom biological and physiological mechanism to obtain high-value metabolites

• Silicious biomass harvesting processes and lipid purification techniques.

• Commercially relevant diatoms suitable for photosynthetic biorefinery approach

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Mal, N., Srivastava, K., Sharma, Y. et al. Facets of diatom biology and their potential applications. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 12, 1959–1975 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-01155-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-01155-5

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