Microalgae, as photosynthetic organisms, have the potential to produce biomolecules for use in food, feed, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, fuel, and other applications. Faster growth rates and higher protein and lipid content make microalgae a popular chassis for many industrial applications. However, challenges such as low productivity and high production costs have limited their commercialization. To overcome these challenges, bioengineering approaches such as genetic engineering, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology have been employed to improve the productivity and quality of microalgae-based products. Genetic engineering employing genome editing tools like CRISPR/Cas allows precise and targeted genetic modifications. CRISPR/Cas systems are presently used to modify the genetic makeup of microalgae for enhanced production of specific biomolecules. However, these tools are yet to be explored explicitly in microalgae owing to some limitations. Despite the progress made in CRISPR-based bioengineering approaches, there is still a need for further research to optimize the production of microalgae-based products. This includes improving the efficiency of genome editing tools, understanding the regulatory mechanisms of microalgal metabolism, and optimizing growth conditions and cultivation strategies. Additionally, addressing the ethical, social, and environmental concerns associated with genetic modification of microalgae is crucial for the responsible development and commercialization of microalgae-based products. This review summarizes the advancements of CRISPR-based bioengineering for production of industrially important biomolecules and provides key considerations to use CRISPR/Cas systems in microalgae. The review will help researchers to understand the progress and to initiate genome editing experiments in microalgae.

The viral pneumonia COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread rapidly over 210 countries and declared as pandemic by WHO. WHO has emphasized o...

The outbreak of the infectious and rapidly expanding coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to a devastating effect on public health and the global economy. The daily country-wise updates from the World Health Organization on number of infected cases and death rates show diverse statistics. In this study, we performed a comparative analysis between the COVID-19 death rate and mutation rate for selected structural and non-structural proteins. A total of 7200 genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 virus from 49 countries were investigated. The mutation rate of specific proteins of SARS-CoV-2 over the last four months (April – July, 2020) was correlated with the death rate across various countries. From our findings, we suggest a significant correlation between the mutation rates of NSP6 and Surface glycoprotein with the death rate. Additional analysis of cumulative mutation rate of these two proteins with the death rate of three major clusters helped us to hypothesize that mutations of these 2 proteins will grow consistently while the death rate would drop below 0.5% by end of 2020 in cluster I countries. Hence, we propose that with the current mutation rate trend, COVID-19 death rate would significantly weaken by the end of this year.