Abstract
Euglena gracilis is a freshwater protist possessing secondary chloroplasts of green algal origin. Various physical factors (e.g. UV) and chemical compounds (e.g. antibiotics) cause the bleaching of E. gracilis cells—the loss of plastid genes leading to the permanent inability to photosynthesize. Bleaching can be prevented by antimutagens (i.e. lignin, vitamin C and selenium). Besides screening the mutagenic and antimutagenic activity of chemicals, E. gracilis is also a suitable model for studying the biological effects of many organic pollutants. Due to its capability of heavy metal sequestration, it can be used for bioremediation. E. gracilis has been successfully transformed, offering the possibility of genetic modifications for synthesizing compounds of biotechnological interest. The novel design of the “next generation” transgenic expression cassettes with respect to the specificities of euglenid gene expression is proposed. Moreover, E. gracilis is a natural source of commercially relevant bioproducts such as (pro)vitamins, wax esters, polyunsaturated fatty acids and paramylon (β-1,3-glucan). One of the highest limitations of large-scale cultivation of E. gracilis is its disability to synthesize essential vitamins B1 and B12. This disadvantage can be overcome by co-cultivation of E. gracilis with other microorganisms, which can synthesize sufficient amounts of these vitamins. Such co-cultures can be used for the effective accumulation and harvesting of Euglena biomass by bioflocculation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.
Abbreviations
- ATMT:
-
Agrobacterium-tumefaciens-mediated transformation
- CaMV35S:
-
Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S
- Cas9:
-
CRISPR associated protein 9
- CRISPR:
-
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats
- F2A:
-
Foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV)-derived 2A
- FBP/SBPase:
-
Fructose-1,6-/sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase
- GapC:
-
Gene encoding glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
- GFP:
-
Green florescent protein
- Gus :
-
Gene encoding glucuronidase
- HtpII:
-
Hygromycin-resistance gene encoding hygromycin phosphotransferase II
- LHCPII:
-
Light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein of photosystem II
- MAHs:
-
Monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- NGR:
-
Noncoding gene region
- NOS:
-
Nopaline synthase
- RbcS:
-
Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO)
- SL-RNA:
-
Spliced leader RNA
- T-DNA:
-
Transfer DNA
- Ti:
-
Tumor inducing
- UTR:
-
Untranslated mRNA region
References
Acién Fernández FG, Gómez-Serrano C, Fernández-Sevilla JM (2018) Recovery of nutrients from wastewaters using microalgae. Front Sustain Food Syst 2:59. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2018.00059
Ahmad S, Pandey A, Pathak VV, Tyagi VV, Kothari R (2020) Phycoremediation: algae as eco-friendly tools for the removal of heavy metals from wastewaters. In: Bharagava RN, Saxena G (eds) Bioremediation of industrial waste for environmental safety. Springer, Singapore, pp 53–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3426-9_3
Ahmed H, Häder DP (2010) A fast algal bioassay for assessment of copper toxicity in water using Euglena gracilis. J Appl Phycol 22:785–792. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-010-9520-z
Ahmed H, Häder DP (2011) Monitoring of waste water samples using the ECOTOX biosystem and the flagellate alga Euglena gracilis. Water Air Soil Poll 216:547–560. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0552-4
Azizullah A, Nasir A, Richter P, Lebert M, Häder DP (2011a) Evaluation of the adverse effects of two commonly used fertilizers, DAP and urea, on motility and orientation of the green flagellate Euglena gracilis. Environ Exp Bot 74:140–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2011.05.011
Azizullah A, Richter P, Häder DP (2011b) Comparative toxicity of the pesticides carbofuran and malathion to the freshwater flagellate Euglena gracilis. Ecotoxicology 20:1442–1454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-011-0701-6
Azizullah A, Richter P, Häder DP (2011c) Toxicity assessment of a common laundry detergent using the freshwater flagellate Euglena gracilis. Chemosphere 84:1392–1400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.04.068
Azizullah A, Richter P, Jamil M, Häder DP (2012) Chronic toxicity of a laundry detergent to the freshwater flagellate Euglena gracilis. Ecotoxicology 21:1957–1964. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-012-0930-3
Azizullah A, Richter P, Ullah W, Ali I, Häder DP (2013) Ecotoxicity evaluation of a liquid detergent using the automatic biotest ECOTOX. Ecotoxicology 22:1043–1052. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-013-1091-8
Azizullah A, Jamil M, Richter P, Häder DP (2014a) Fast bioassessment of wastewater and surface water quality using freshwater flagellate Euglena gracilis—a case study from Pakistan. J Appl Phycol 26:421–431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-013-0100-x
Azizullah A, Richter P, Häder DP (2014b) Photosynthesis and photosynthetic pigments in the flagellate Euglena gracilis—as sensitive endpoints for toxicity evaluation of liquid detergents. J Photochem Photobiol B 133:18–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2014.02.011
Barsanti L, Vismara R, Passarelli V, Gualtieri P (2001) Paramylon (β-1,3-glucan) content in wild type and WZSL mutant of Euglena gracilis. Effects of growth conditions. J Appl Phycol 13:59–65. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008105416065
Becker I, Prasad B, Ntefidou M, Daiker V, Richter P, Lebert M (2021) Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated nuclear transformation of a biotechnologically important microalga-Euglena gracilis. Int J Mol Sci 22:6299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22126299
Belicová A, Ebringer L, Krajčovič J, Hromádková Z, Ebringerová A (2001) Antimutagenic effect of heteroxylans, arabinogalactans, pectins and mannans in the Euglena assay. World J Microb Biot 17:293–299. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016676401954
Chen Z, Zhu J, Du M, Chen Z, Liu Q, Zhu H, Lei A, Wang J (2022a) A synthetic biology perspective on the bioengineering tools for an industrial microalga: Euglena gracilis. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 10:882391. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.882391
Chen Z, Zhu J, Chen Z, Du M, Yao R, Fu W, Lei A, Wang J (2022b) High-throughput sequencing revealed low-efficacy genome editing using Cas9 RNPs electroporation and single-celled microinjection provided an alternative to deliver CRISPR reagents into Euglena gracilis. Plant Biotechnol J 20:2048–2050. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13915
Dai J, He J, Chen Z, Qin H, Du M, Lei A, Zhao L, Wang J (2022) Euglena gracilis promotes Lactobacillus growth and antioxidants accumulation as a potential next-generation prebiotic. Front Nutr 9:864565. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.864565
Danilov RA, Ekelund NGA (2001) Responses of photosynthetic efficiency, cell shape and motility in Euglena gracilis (Euglenophyceae) to short-term exposure to heavy metals and pentachlorophenol. Water Air Soil Pollut 132:61–73. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012004607313
Doetsch N, Favreau M, Kuscuoglu N, Thompson MD, Hallick RB (2001) Chloroplast transformation in Euglena gracilis: splicing of a group III twintron transcribed from a transgenic psbK operon. Curr Genet 39:49–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002940000174
Durnford DG, Gray MW (2006) Analysis of Euglena gracilis plastid-targeted proteins reveals different classes of transit sequences. Eukaryot Cell 5:2079-2091. https://doi.org/10.1128/EC.00222-06
Ebenezer TE, Zoltner M, Burrell A, Nenarokova A, Novák Vanclová AMG, Prasad B et al (2019) Transcriptome, proteome and draft genome of Euglena gracilis. BMC Biol 17:11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-019-0626-8
Ebenezer TE, Low RS, O’Neill EC, Huang I, DeSimone A, Farrow SC, Field RA, Ginger ML, Guerrero SA, Hammond M, Hampl V, Horst G, Ishikawa T, Karnkowska A, Linton EW, Myler P, Nakazawa M, Cardol P, Sánchez-Thomas R, Saville BJ, Shah MR, Simpson AGB, Sur A, Suzuki K, Tyler KM, Zimba PV, Hall N, Field MC (2022) Euglena International Network (EIN): Driving euglenoid biotechnology for the benefit of a challenged world. Biol Open 11:bio059561. https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.059561
Ebringer L (1972) Are plastids derived from prokaryotic microorganisms? Action of antibiotics on chloroplasts of Euglena gracilis. J Gen Microbiol 71:35–52. https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-71-1-35
Ebringer L (1978) Effects of drugs on chloroplasts. In: Hahn FE, Kersten H, Kersten W, Szybalski W (eds) Progress in molecular and subcellular biology, vol 6. Springer, New York, pp 271–350
Ebringer L, Dobias J, Krajčovič J, Polónyi J, Križková L, Lahitová N (1996) Antimutagens reduce ofloxacin-induced bleaching in Euglena gracilis. Mutat Res Environ Mutagen 359:85–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-1161(96)90255-1
Gissibl A, Sun A, Care A, Nevalainen H, Sunna A (2019) Bioproducts from Euglena gracilis: Synthesis and applications. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 7:108. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2019.00108
Goncalves AL, Pires JC, Simoes M (2017) A review on the use of microalgal consortia for wastewater treatment. Algal Res 24:403–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2016.11.008
Hadariová L, Vesteg M, Birčák E, Schwartzbach SD, Krajčovič J (2017) An intact plastid genome is essential for the survival of colorless Euglena longa but not Euglena gracilis. Curr Genet 63:331–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-016-0641-z
Hadariová L, Vesteg M, Hampl V, Krajčovič J (2018) Reductive evolution of chloroplasts in non-photosynthetic plants, algae and protists. Curr Genet 64:365–387. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-017-0761-0
Hu C, Wang Q, Zhao H, Wang L, Guo S, Li X (2015) Ecotoxicological effects of graphene oxide on the protozoan Euglena gracilis. Chemosphere 128:184–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.01.040
Inui H, Miyatake K, Nakano Y, Kitaoka S (1982) Wax ester fermentation in Euglena gracilis. FEBS Lett 150:89–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/0014-5793(82)81310-0
Iseki M, Matsunaga S, Murakami A, Ohno K, Shiga K, Yoshida K, Sugai M, Takahashi T, Hori T, Watanabe M (2002) A blue-light-activated adenylyl cyclase mediates photoavoidance in Euglena gracilis. Nature 415:1047–1051. https://doi.org/10.1038/4151047a
Khatiwada B, Kautto L, Sunna A, Sun A, Nevalainen H (2019) Nuclear transformation of the versatile microalga Euglena gracilis. Algal Res 37:178–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2018.11.022
Khatiwada B, Sunna A, Nevalainen H (2020a) Molecular tools and applications of Euglena gracilis: from biorefineries to bioremediation. Biotechnol Bioeng 117:3952–3967. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.27516
Khatiwada B, Hasan MT, Sun A, Kamath KS, Mirzaei M, Sunna A, Nevalainen H (2020b) Proteomic response of Euglena gracilis to heavy metal exposure—identification of key proteins involved in heavy metal tolerance and accumulation. Algal Res 45:101764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2019.101764
Kleiner FH, Vesteg M, Steiner JM (2021) An ancient glaucophyte c6-like cytochrome related to higher plant cytochrome c6A is imported into muroplasts. J Cell Sci 134:jcs255901. https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.255901
Kottuparambil S, Thankamony RL, Agusti S (2019) Euglena as a potential natural source of value-added metabolites. A Review. Algal Res 37:154–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2018.11.024
Krajčovič J, Ebringer L, Schwartzbach SD (2002) Reversion of endosymbiosis? In: Seckbach J (ed) Symbiosis: mechanisms and models. Cellular origin in extreme habitats, vol 4. Kluwer Acad Pub, Dordrecht, pp 185–206
Krajčovič J, Vesteg M, Schwartzbach SD (2015) Euglenoid flagellates: a multifaceted biotechnology platform. J Biotechnol 202:135–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2014.11.035
Krchňáková Z, Krajčovič J, Vesteg M (2017) On the possibility of an early evolutionary origin for the spliced leader trans-splicing. J Mol Evol 85:37–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-017-9803-y
Krnáčová K, Vesteg M, Hampl V, Vlček Č, Horváth A (2012) Euglena gracilis and trypanosomatids possess common patterns in predicted mitochondrial targeting presequences. J Mol Evol 75:119–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-012-9523-2
Krnáčová K, Vinarčíková M, Rýdlová I, Krajčovič J, Vesteg M, Horváth A (2015) Characterization of oxidative phosphorylation enzymes in Euglena gracilis and its white mutant strain WgmZOflL. FEBS Lett 589:687–694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.febslet.2015.01.035
Kumar KS, Dahms HU, Won EJ, Lee JS, Shin KH (2015) Microalgae—A promising tool for heavy metal remediation. Ecotox Environ Safe 113:329–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2014.12.019
Kuroda M, Horino T, Inoue D, Morikawa M, Ike M (2018) Biomass production and nutrient removal through cultivation of Euglena gracilis in domestic wastewater. Jap J Water Treat Biol 54:105–113. https://doi.org/10.2521/jswtb.54.105
Li X, Schirmer K, Bernard L, Sigg L, Pillai S, Behra R (2015) Silver nanoparticle toxicity and association with the alga Euglena gracilis. Environm Sci 2:594–602. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5EN00093A
Lukáčová A, Beck T, Trnková K, Trniková M, Krajčovič J, Vesteg M (2022a) Discrimination of Euglena gracilis strain Z and bacillaris by MALDI-TOF MS. J Appl Microbiol 133:930–942. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.15600
Lukáčová A, Beck T, Koptašiková L, Benda A, Tomečková L, Trniková M, Lihanová D, Steiner JM, Krajčovič J, Vesteg M (2022b) Euglena gracilis can grow in the mixed culture containing Cladosporium westerdijkiae, Lysinibacillus boronitolerans and Pseudobacillus badius without the addition of vitamins B1 and B12. J Biotechnol 351:50–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2022.04.013
Lukáčová A, Vesteg M (2022) Mnohonásobné nezávislé straty schopnosti fotosyntézy v evolúcii eukaryotov a metabolizmus nefotosyntetických plastidov. Chem listy 116:316–323. https://doi.org/10.54779/chl20220316
Mahapatra DM, Chanakya H, Ramachandra T (2013) Euglena sp. as a suitable source of lipids for potential use as biofuel and sustainable wastewater treatment. J Appl Phycol 25:855–865. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-013-9979-5
Mateášiková-Kováčová B, Vesteg M, Drahovská H, Záhonová K, Vacula R, Krajčovič J (2012) Nucleus-encoded mRNAs for chloroplast proteins GapA, PetA a PsbO are trans-spliced in the flagellate Euglena gracilis irrespective of light and plastid function. J Eukaryot Microbiol 59:651–653. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1550-7408.2012.00634.x
Mathimani T, Pugazhendhi A (2019) Utilization of algae for biofuel, bio-products and bio-remediation. Biocatal Agricul Biotechnol 17:326–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2018.12.007
Matsuda F, Hayashi M, Kondo A (2011) Comparative profiling analysis of central metabolites in Euglena gracilis under various cultivation conditions. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 75:2253–2256. https://doi.org/10.1271/bbb.110482
Moreno-Sanchez R, Rodriguez-Enriquez S, Jasso-Chavez R, Saavedra E, Garcia-Garcia JD (2017) Biochemistry and physiology of heavy metal resistance and accumulation in Euglena. In: Schwartzbach SD, Shigeoka S (eds) Euglena: biochemistry, cell and molecular biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54910-1_6
Nomura T, Inoue K, Uehara-Yamaguchi Y, Yamada K, Iwata O, Suzuki K, Mochida K (2019) Highly efficient transgene-free targeted mutagenesis and single stranded oligodeoxynucleotide-mediated precise knock-in in the industrial microalga Euglena gracilis using Cas9 ribonucleoproteins. Plant Biotechnol J 17:2032–2034. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13174
Nomura T, Yoshikawa M, Suzuki K, Mochida K (2020) Highly efficient CRISPR-associated protein 9 ribonucleoprotein-based genome editing in Euglena gracilis. STAR Protoc 1:100023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2020.100023
Ogawa T, Tamoi M, Kimura A, Mine A, Sakuyama H, Yoshida E, Maruta T, Suzuki K, Ishikawa T, Shigeoka S (2015) Enhancement of photosynthetic capacity in Euglena gracilis by expression of cyanobacterial fructose-1,6-/sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase leads to increases in biomass and wax ester production. Biotechnol Biofuels 8:80. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-015-0264-5
Ojuederie O, Babalola O (2017) Microbial and plant-assisted bioremediation of heavy metal polluted environments: a review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 14:1504. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14121504
Peng C, Arthur DM, Sichani HT, Xia Q, Ng JC (2013) Assessing benzene-induced toxicity on wild type Euglena gracilis Z and its mutant strain SMZ. Chemosphere 93:2381–2389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.08.037
Peng C, Lee JW, Sichani HT, Ng JC (2015) Toxic effects of individual and combined effects of BTEX on Euglena gracilis. J Hazard Mater 284:10–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.10.024
Pettersson M, Ekelund NGA (2006) Effects of the herbicides Roundup and Avans on Euglena gracilis. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 50:175–181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-004-0042-z
Sun L, Sun S, Bai M, Wang Z, Zhao Y, Huang Q, Hu C, Li X (2021) Internalization of polystyrene microplastics in Euglena gracilis and its effects on the protozoan photosynthesis and motility. Aquat Toxicol 236:105840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2021.105840
Tahedl H, Häder DP (1999) Fast examination of water quality using the automatic biotest ECOTOX based on the movement behavior of a freshwater flagellate. Water Res 33:426–432
Tahedl H, Häder DP (2001) Automated biomonitoring using real time movement analysis of Euglena gracilis. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 48:161–169. https://doi.org/10.1006/eesa.2000.2004
Tahira S, Khan S, Samrana S, Shahi L, Ali I, Murad W, Rehman Z, Azizullah A (2019) Bioassessment and remediation of arsenic (arsenite As-III) in water by Euglena gracilis. J Appl Phycol 3:423–433. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1593-0
Tan X, Zhu J, Wakisaka M (2021) Effect of phytochemical vanillic acid on the growth and lipid accumulation of freshwater microalga Euglena gracilis. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 37:217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03185-1
Torihara K, Kishimoto N (2015) Evaluation of growth characteristics of Euglena gracilis for microalgal biomass production using wastewater. J Water Environ Technol 13:195–205. https://doi.org/10.2965/jwet.2015.195
Turmel M, Gagnon MC, O’Kelly CJ, Otis C, Lemieux C (2009) The chloroplast genomes of the green algae Pyramimonas, Monomastix, and Pycnococcus shed new light on the evolutionary history of prasinophytes and the origin of the secondary chloroplasts of euglenids. Mol Biol Evol 26:631–648. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msn285
Vesteg M, Krajčovič J (2011) The falsifiability of the models for the origin of eukaryotes. Curr Genet 57:367–390. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-011-0357-z
Vesteg M, Vacula R, Krajčovič J (2009a) On the origin of chloroplasts, import mechanisms of chloroplast-targeted proteins, and loss of photosynthetic ability. Folia Microbiol 54:303–321. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-009-0048-z
Vesteg M, Vacula R, Burey S, Löffelhardt W, Drahovská H, Martin W, Krajčovič J (2009b) Expression of nucleus-encoded genes for chloroplast proteins in the flagellate Euglena gracilis. J Eukaryot Microbiol 56:159–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1550-7408.2008.00383.x
Vesteg M, Vacula R, Steiner JM, Mateášiková B, Löffelhardt W, Brejová B, Krajčovič J (2010) A possible role for short introns in the acquisition of stroma-targeting peptides in the flagellate Euglena gracilis. DNA Res 17:223–231. https://doi.org/10.1093/dnares/dsq015
Vesteg M, Šándorová Z, Krajčovič J (2012) Selective forces for the origin of spliceosomes. J Mol Evol 74:226–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-012-9494-3
Vesteg M, Hadariová L, Horváth A, Estraňo CE, Schwartzbach SD, Krajčovič J (2019) Comparative molecular cell biology of phototrophic euglenids and parasitic trypanosomatids sheds light on the ancestor of Euglenozoa. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 94:1701–1721. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12523
Záhonová K, Hadariová L, Vacula R, Yurchenko V, Eliáš M, Krajčovič J, Vesteg M (2014) A small portion of plastid transcripts is polyadenylated in the flagellate Euglena gracilis. FEBS Lett 588:783–788. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.febslet.2014.01.034
Záhonová K, Füssy Z, Birčák E, Novák Vanclová AMG, Klimeš V, Vesteg M, Krajčovič J, Oborník M, Eliáš M (2018) Peculiar features of the plastids of the colourless alga Euglena longa and photosynthetic euglenophytes unveiled by transcriptome analyses. Sci Rep 8:17012. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35389-1
Zimorski V, Rauch C, van Hellemond JJ, Tielens AGM, Martin WF (2017) The mitochondrion of Euglena gracilis. In: Schwartzbach SD, Shigeoka S (eds) Euglena: biochemistry, cell and molecular biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54910-1_2
Acknowledgements
We thank to the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, and the Academy of Sciences (Grant VEGA 1/0694/2021) for support. We acknowledge Lenka Koptašiková, Martin Fraiberk, Irena Krejzová and Aleš Benda from Imaging Methods Core Facility at BIOCEV, institution supported by the MEYS CR (Large RI Project LM2018129 Czech-BioImaging) and ERDF project no. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/18_046/0016045 for scanning electron microscopy. We thank Ian S. Maddox, Professor Emeritus, College of Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, Reviews Editor of the World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology for inviting us to write this minireview.
Funding
This study was supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, and the Academy of Sciences (Grant VEGA 1/0694/2021), and by project ITMS 26210120024 supported by the Research & Development Operational Programme funded by the ERDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
DL, AL, TB contributed mainly to the sections about applications of E. gracilis in ecotoxicology, for bioremediation and for production of biotechnologically important compounds, and E. gracilis large scale cultivation and harvesting. AJ, DV and JK contributed mainly to the sections about E. gracilis transformation and the design of gene expression cassettes. MV contributed to all sections. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Lihanová, D., Lukáčová, A., Beck, T. et al. Versatile biotechnological applications of Euglena gracilis. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 39, 133 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-023-03585-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-023-03585-5