On the interaction of carbon nanotubes and microalgae

Application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in plant biotechnology and agriculture brought to light an increasing amount of new findings, revealing the potential of CNTs to promote plant growth and crop production, or to control the delivery of fertilizers or pesticides to crops [1,2]. The coupling of plant cell structures with nanomaterials, used in the novel plant nanobionics approach, suggested the capability of CNTs to increase the efficiency of energy harnessing in the photosynthetic process and to improve cell response to oxidative stress conditions [3]. This new knowledge may foster the exploitation of the nanotechnology tools to empower photosynthetic performance and production yields of commercially important microalgal species. Large-scale cultivation of microalgae in photo-bioreactors plays an important role in the production of biomass, biofuels or high-value compounds [3]. One of the main problems in high-density-cultured algal bioreactors is the reduction of production yield due to occurrence of strong light-shading. Besides, very often, the introduction of different stress conditions (e.g. nutrients starvation) is exploited to redirect the algal metabolism towards the synthesis of desired compounds. Thus, experimental strategies taking advantages of CNT ability to assist the photosynthetic electron transport and the cell uptake of engineered nanoparticles or molecules with antioxidant or signaling functions bare great capacity to improve fitness and photosynthetic performance of commercially important photosynthetic microorganisms under large-scale manufacture conditions [4]. Here we will discuss the potential of the CNTs to enhance functions of algae facilitating a more efficient use of photosynthetic algal systems in the sustainable production of valuable goods. The research is focused on the development of experimental approaches to enable the interactions of photosynthetic microorganisms and CNTs, and to study the effects of CNT properties on algal fitness and photosynthetic performance, and nanotubes uptake into algal cell. [1] Wang et al., Trends Plant Sci. 21 (2016) 699-712. [2] Guatimosim et al., In: Bioengineering Applications of Carbon Nanostructures, A. Jorio (ed.), Springer Intern. Publ. Switzerland 2016, pp. 17-29. [3] Giraldo et al., Nature Mater. 13 (2014) 400-408. [4] Wong et al., Nature Mater. 16 (2017) 264-272. [5] Lambreva et al., Photosynth. Res. 125 (2015) 451-471.