7
foundation stone for defining the important genomic factors that could facilitate the
process of regeneration of agarophytic macroalgae. The improvement in the
regeneration capacity of agarophytes may induce agar yield and hence provide economic support to this industry. Oliveira et al. (2015) defined 20 different genes
involved in the biosynthesis of terpenoid precursors and 21 different genes coding
for terpene synthases in Laurencia dendroidea. The authors could tap the mevalonate pathway involved in the biosynthesis of terpenes in L. dendroidea. This therefore opens opportunity for possible heterologous biosynthesis of terpenes from
L. dendroidea exhibiting ecological or biotechnological interest. These studies represent the advantages of functional genomics in seaweeds and thus attribute to
expand the seaweed research in the direction of genetic manipulations to improve
the traits. With the understanding of the importance of functional genome mapping,
the seaweed- specific functional traits of industrial relevance may be determined in
due course.
1.3 Functional Genomics from the Context of Biofuel
Seaweeds with wide species-specific architectural and physiological variations indicate huge array of information which needs to be explored. For example, the cell
wall biosynthesis in seaweeds is a complex phenomenon as it composed of heteropolysaccharide agar and carrageenan in seaweeds belonging to red, alginates in
brown and ulvan in seaweed species of Ulvophyceae. A better understanding of
biosynthesis mechanism of these hydrocolloids may help to initiate genetic manipulation studies to improve the seaweed for these traits, to be more specific, cell wall
architectural engineering and remodelling. Understanding the Ulva cell wall biosynthesis is of paramount importance as this alga is considered as biofuel crop
(Trivedi et al. 2015, 2016). This is composed of microfibrillar cellulose in the matrix
of heteropolysaccharide ulvan. Upregulation of cellulose synthesis machinery with
concomitant decrease in ulvan biosynthesis will make the biofuel production from
this alga more feasible. Likewise, the oxylipin biosynthetic machinery in brown
seaweeds showed gene cluster homologous to both plant and animal. The sulfinic
acid compounds and their derivatives reported by Gupta et al. (2013) in seaweeds
are of great interest, and their biosynthetic pathways need to be explored for understating their role in free radical detoxification.
With the practical demonstration of biorefinery concept in seaweeds (Trivedi
et al. 2016; Baghel et al. 2015), the biomass can be utilized in various streams and
the fibrillary polysaccharide component, i.e. cellulose, can be processed for the production of ethanol or other ancillary industrial components. The introduction of
other heteropolysaccharides (agar, alginate and carrageenan), which already constitute an essential commodity product from seaweeds to biofuel production, will be a
critical risk to existing market. In the given case scenario, research on cell wall
architecture and remodelling is required. Thus understanding of cell wall biosynthesis
1 Macroalgal Functional Genomics: A Missing Area
foundation stone for defining the important genomic factors that could facilitate the
process of regeneration of agarophytic macroalgae. The improvement in the
regeneration capacity of agarophytes may induce agar yield and hence provide economic support to this industry. Oliveira et al. (2015) defined 20 different genes
involved in the biosynthesis of terpenoid precursors and 21 different genes coding
for terpene synthases in Laurencia dendroidea. The authors could tap the mevalonate pathway involved in the biosynthesis of terpenes in L. dendroidea. This therefore opens opportunity for possible heterologous biosynthesis of terpenes from
L. dendroidea exhibiting ecological or biotechnological interest. These studies represent the advantages of functional genomics in seaweeds and thus attribute to
expand the seaweed research in the direction of genetic manipulations to improve
the traits. With the understanding of the importance of functional genome mapping,
the seaweed- specific functional traits of industrial relevance may be determined in
due course.
1.3 Functional Genomics from the Context of Biofuel
Seaweeds with wide species-specific architectural and physiological variations indicate huge array of information which needs to be explored. For example, the cell
wall biosynthesis in seaweeds is a complex phenomenon as it composed of heteropolysaccharide agar and carrageenan in seaweeds belonging to red, alginates in
brown and ulvan in seaweed species of Ulvophyceae. A better understanding of
biosynthesis mechanism of these hydrocolloids may help to initiate genetic manipulation studies to improve the seaweed for these traits, to be more specific, cell wall
architectural engineering and remodelling. Understanding the Ulva cell wall biosynthesis is of paramount importance as this alga is considered as biofuel crop
(Trivedi et al. 2015, 2016). This is composed of microfibrillar cellulose in the matrix
of heteropolysaccharide ulvan. Upregulation of cellulose synthesis machinery with
concomitant decrease in ulvan biosynthesis will make the biofuel production from
this alga more feasible. Likewise, the oxylipin biosynthetic machinery in brown
seaweeds showed gene cluster homologous to both plant and animal. The sulfinic
acid compounds and their derivatives reported by Gupta et al. (2013) in seaweeds
are of great interest, and their biosynthetic pathways need to be explored for understating their role in free radical detoxification.
With the practical demonstration of biorefinery concept in seaweeds (Trivedi
et al. 2016; Baghel et al. 2015), the biomass can be utilized in various streams and
the fibrillary polysaccharide component, i.e. cellulose, can be processed for the production of ethanol or other ancillary industrial components. The introduction of
other heteropolysaccharides (agar, alginate and carrageenan), which already constitute an essential commodity product from seaweeds to biofuel production, will be a
critical risk to existing market. In the given case scenario, research on cell wall
architecture and remodelling is required. Thus understanding of cell wall biosynthesis
1 Macroalgal Functional Genomics: A Missing Area