An engineering biology approach for sustainable production of omega 3 and pigments from microalgae

Omega-3油对人体健康至关重要，这些脂肪酸的主要饮食来源是鱼类。然而，全球约90%的渔业被过度开发或完全枯竭，因此不能作为可持续来源。联合国预测，到2030年，水产养殖将取代自然渔业，占全球鱼类消费量的60%。然而，养殖的鱼本身并不产生欧米伽-3油和其他关键营养素，而是从食物链的下游鱼类那里积累这些营养素。因此，水产养殖也依赖于不可持续的做法，因为作为饲料所需的鱼粉和鱼油中约有65 - 70%来自专门为此目的捕捞的远洋鱼类。因此，需要更可持续的饲料生产方法来满足消费者对海产品日益增长的需求，同时保护我们的海洋。MiAlgae的专利技术采用循环经济方法，可持续地从苏格兰威士忌行业的副产品中生产omega-3和色素。副产品，包括啤酒和废酒糟，被用作生长微藻的原料，而由此产生的生物质是我们最近推出的NaturAlgae产品的基础。NaturAlgae是一种富含omega-3的粉末，可作为水产养殖和宠物食品行业的饲料成分。发酵还会产生微量的类胡萝卜素，因为它们的颜色和抗氧化特性而很有价值，而这个过程中唯一的其他产出就是干净的水。MiAlgae的技术越能有效地将威士忌副产品转化为omega-3和其他感兴趣的产品，就能有越多的鱼粉和鱼油被可持续的替代品所取代。该项目旨在开发使能技术（即转化协议和基因组序列），可用于促进我们的微藻染色的工程生物学方法。通过允许我们合理地设计我们的菌株，这些技术将使MiAlgae能够提高工艺效率，增加omega-3和类胡萝卜素的产量，从而最大限度地提高每批蒸馏副产品的附加值。

Omega-3 oils are essential for human health, with the main dietary source of these fatty acids being fish. However, approximately 90% of global fisheries are overexploited or fully depleted, and therefore cannot act as a sustainable source. In place of natural fisheries, the United Nations projects that aquaculture will provide 60% of global fish consumption by 2030\. However, farmed fish do not produce omega-3 oils and other key nutrients themselves, instead accumulating them from fish further down the food chain. Aquaculture is therefore also reliant on unsustainable practices, as approximately 65 - 70% of the fishmeal and fish oil required as feed is sourced from of pelagic fish harvested specifically for this purpose. More sustainable approaches to feed production are therefore required to meet the increase in consumer demand for seafood whilst also protecting our oceans.MiAlgae's proprietary technology applies a circular economy approach to sustainably produce omega-3 and pigments from co-products of the Scottish whisky industry. The co-products, including pot ale and spent lees, are used as a feedstock to grow microalgae, and the resulting biomass is the basis of our recently launched NaturAlgae product. NaturAlgae is a omega-3 rich powder that can be used as a feed ingredient in the aquaculture and pet food industries. The fermentation also produces trace amounts of carotenoids, which are valued for their colour and antioxidant properties, with the only other output from the process being clean water.The more efficiently MiAlgae's technology can turn whisky co-products to omega-3 and other products of interest, the more fishmeal and fish oils can be replaced by sustainable alternatives. This project aims to develop enabling technologies (namely a transformation protocol and genome sequence) that can be used to facilitate an engineering biology approach in our microalgal stain. By allowing us to rationally engineer our strain, these technologies will enable MiAlgae to improve process efficiency and increase yields of omega-3 and carotenoids, thereby maximising the value added to each batch of distillery co-product.