Cyanobacteria & Microalgae as Green Cell Factories: Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering for Sustainable Biotechnology

Cyanobacteria and microalgae are promising platforms for sustainable biotechnology because they combine photosynthetic carbon fixation, metabolic flexibility, and the capacity to grow on non-arable land using light, carbon dioxide, and inorganic nutrients. However, challenges including limited productivity, metabolic competition, genetic instability, product toxicity, and costly downstream processing continue to restrict their industrial deployment. Recent advances in genome editing, omics-based analysis, computational modelling, pathway reconstruction, and bioprocess engineering have enabled more precise manipulation of cellular metabolism and improved the production of biofuels, bioplastics, pharmaceuticals, pigments, proteins, and other value-added compounds. Nevertheless, incomplete knowledge of regulatory networks, context-dependent pathway performance, physiological trade-offs, and scale-up limitations remains a major barrier. Further investigation is therefore needed to connect fundamental biological discoveries with robust, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable production systems.This Research Topic aims to advance the development of cyanobacteria and microalgae as engineered green cell factories by examining strategies that improve product yield, cellular robustness, process efficiency, and scalability. It will explore how synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, systems biology, and bioprocess innovation can be integrated to design predictable and resilient production platforms. Contributions may address the discovery and validation of novel genetic parts, the optimisation of biosynthetic pathways, the rewiring of regulatory circuits, and the assessment of biological, technical, and environmental constraints. The Research Topic also seeks to identify transferable design principles and clarify how engineered photosynthetic microorganisms can contribute to renewable energy, low-carbon manufacturing, environmental remediation, and the circular bioeconomy.To gather further insights into the engineering, optimisation, and application of cyanobacteria and microalgae for sustainable bioproduction, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Synthetic biology tools, genetic circuits, and genome-editing technologies• Metabolic pathway design, balancing, and optimisation• Production of biofuels, bioplastics, pharmaceuticals, pigments, proteins, and other high-value compounds• Systems biology, multi-omics, computational modelling, and pathway prediction• Regulatory network engineering and cellular resource allocation• Improving photosynthetic efficiency, carbon fixation, growth, and product titres• Engineering tolerance to environmental stress and product toxicity• Chassis development and comparative evaluation of cyanobacterial and microalgal species• Bioprocess development, photobioreactor design, and scale-up• Biosafety, biocontainment, and responsible deployment of engineered strainsPlease note that Microbiotechnology does not consider descriptive studies that are solely based on amplicon (e.g., 16S rRNA) profiles or comparisons of nucleic acid extracts (e.g., metagenomics), unless they are accompanied by a clear hypothesis and experimentation and provide insight into the microbiological system or process being studied. Topic editors: Shiwani Guleria Sharma, Praveen Guleria, Yadvinder Singh Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86607/cyanobacteria-microalgae-as-green-cell-factories-synthetic-biology-and-metabolic-engineering-for-sustainable-biotechnology