ИСТИНА

Inorganic polyphosphates (PolyP) have a plethora of potential applications in fine and bulk chemistry and medicine as food additives, antiviral and antimicrobial agents, tissue engineering scaffolds, and environment friendly slow-release phosphorus biofertilizer. A major setback for the PolyP-(bio)technologies is the difficulty of chemical synthesis of longer-chain PolyP although short-chain PolyP are mass-produced. During acclimation to volatile phosphorus availability in the environment, microalgae have developed capacity of efficient PolyP biosynthesis integral to their mechanisms of luxury phosphorus uptake. In microalgae, PolyP serve as a phosphorus and energy depot and a buffer for inorganic phosphate (Pi) taken up by the cell. Cycling Pi supply to the culture to trigger the luxury uptake, it is possible to obtain microalgal biomass with a very high phosphorus content (up to several percent of cell dry weight) with a significant part of the internal phosphorus accumulated in the form of PolyP. At the same time, uncontrolled build-up of short-chain PolyP can be toxic to microalgal cell and hence deteriorative for the culture performance. Microalgae can efficiently remove phosphorus from different type of waste- and side-streams. Therefore, microalgal biotechnologies are advantageous for increasing the sustainability of the usage of finite, non-renewable mineral phosphate resources and protecting the environment for phosphorus pollution. Possible application of microalgae a bioplatform for green biosynthesis of long-chain natural PolyP and related bioproducts is discussed along with its advantages and potential bottlenecks. Special attention is paid to knowledge-based strategy of parametric control of phosphorus uptake and PolyP biosynthesis by microalgal cells.