Genetic engineered algae: Recent developments and the promising engender for wastewater treatment

It is a point to must agree on the fact that wastewater contains substances like organic matter and non-biodegradable polymers that cause stress and hampers the aquatic life and later on the abiotic and biotic factors. Algae are mainly used for the production of abundant valuable sources focused on pharmaceutical and industrial approaches. The genetically engineered algae have been used due to the fast-growing demands for algae-based biofuels production. Apart from that, microalgae and genetic engineering algae are also been used as a resource for the treatment of wastewater. However, to date, only a few genetic modifications of algal species are reported and investigated as a potential source of wastewater treatment. Thus, it is important to develop efficient algae-based wastewater treatment technologies. An ideal algal strain includes attributes like fast-growth density, east to harvest, and low susceptibility. As an example, the microalgal strains Scenedesmus sp. is capable of mitigating and growing in all the types of wastewaters sourced from industrial, domestic, and agricultural, etc., via accumulating neutral lipids. Marine algae species are easy and have an inexpensive growth requirement which presently the best choice for cell factories of recombinant protein production too. To generate transgenic strain with enhanced profiles, offer advances in genetically modified microalgae for wastewater treatment. The market is still developing for biotechnological applications of algae and future research is very promising. Thus, it is encouraging that the development of sustainable algal products through genetic engineering of algae is needed. This chapter investigates the pros and cons of the conventional methods and also the future microalgae holds for us.