Natural and recombinant bioactive compounds from Schizochytrium sp.: Recent advances and future prospects

Schizochytrium sp. is a unicellular heterotrophic marine protist, with global distribution used at an industrial scale for saturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid production. Diverse methodologies for the genetic transformation of Schizochytrium sp. have been developed to express heterologous proteins, such as through Agrobacterium tumefaciens and electroporation. Culture optimization has been pursued using the nitrogen starvation strategy that shifts the metabolism of Schizochytrium sp. to lipid production, but the over-compensation has been demonstrated could improve biomass and protein biosynthesis. This review paper discusses several studies focused on maximizing the production of high-valued bioproducts, highlighting culture media optimization and genetic/metabolic engineering in Schizochytrium sp. with a biorefinery approach for biopharmaceutical and recombinant protein production.