Research on seaweeds metabolites

Nathalie Bourgougnon and Gilles Bedoux are the guest editors of special issue MetabolitesSpecial issue of metabolies focuses on novel information from present research on seaweeds metabolites.

Macroalgae, a raw material for human nutrition

Macroalgae or seaweeds are mainly used worlwide as a raw material for human nutrition and for the phycocolloid industry. Because they grow in complex habitats, they are sources of specific bioactive metabolites not found in other organisms. These diverse compounds produced under natural or controlled environments could be used in various industrial domains.

 

 

Facing challenges like feeding the world’s population while reducing the use of antibiotics and phytosanitary products, seaweed-derived nutrients and bioactive compounds have potential as functional food ingredients as they possess advantageous effects to prevent chronic diseases and create health benefits such as antitumoral and anti-inflammatory activity. To reduce the production cost of new active compounds, an integrated sustainable biorefinery approach facilitating the extraction of different products from the same biomass is of high importance. Another important aspect to take into account is seaweed biomass production. The use of aquaculture wastewater as nutrients for seaweed is recognized as the most promising proposal for reducing the negative impacts of aquaculture in the surrounding environment, and to produce algae biomass.

 

Research on seaweeds metabolites

This Special Issue focuses on novel information from present research on seaweed metabolites. Particular attention will be paid to the following innovative track explorations:

  • The impact of growth conditions (including integrated multi-trophic aquaculture) on seaweed metabolites
  • Biorefinery and eco-friendly processes to provide strategies for the release of metabolites
  • Advanced metabolite fractionation, the identification of novel bioactive compounds by structural analysis and imaging including high screening content analysis and metabolomic
  • Innovative methods for the determination of biological activities, the study of mechanisms and the relation between chemical structure and activity