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Marine Biotechnology

Marine biotechnology uses techniques from fields like biotechnology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics to develop products and processes from marine organisms. It deals with areas like pharmaceutical development, aquaculture, environmental applications, and biofuels. Some key applications of marine biotechnology include using genetic engineering for aquaculture breeding and growth promotion, developing medicines from marine organisms, using marine microbes and enzymes for bioremediation, and producing biofuels from algae.

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112 views5 pages

Marine Biotechnology

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عمر بن علي

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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Marine biotechnology is the creation of products and processes from marine

organisms through the application of biotechnology, molecular and cell biology,

and bioinformatics. It is the field of science that deals with ocean exploration for
development of new pharmaceutical drugs, chemical products, enzymes, and other
products and processes. It also deals with the advancement of aquaculture and
seafood safety, bioremediation, biofuels, among others. 1

Applications of Marine Biotechnology

Aquaculture and Fishery

Biotechnology has the potential to offer solutions to several problems areas in
aquaculture.

Reproduction. Several fishes do not spawn spontaneously when placed under

captive conditions. In the past, fish gonadotropin, a group of hormones that
stimulate reproduction, were produced in small amounts by extraction and
purification from crude preparations of thousands of pituitary glands. At present,
large quantities of highly purified gonadotropin can be produced in the laboratory
through recombinant DNA technology.

Hermaphrodism is a common phenomenon in many coral reef fishes. Some

species are male in the early stages of their life cycle, and turn female on the later
stages (protandrous hermaphrodite) or vice versa (protogynous hermaphrodite). It
is necessary to have both sexes in the broodstock always. Through genetic
engineering, sex of the species can be regulated as it reaches maturity. 3

Nutrition. Trash fish or wild fish species for fish meal as protein source for
aquafeeds are very limited. Thus, plant-based protein sources is a sustainable
option with additional advantage of being cheaper. However, most plants have anti-
nutritional characteristics that are not favorable for feed utilization. For instance,
carnivorous fishes have limited ability to use up carbohydrates due to the
digestability of polysaccharides. To address this concern, carbohydrate metabolism
of salmonid fish was enhanced through genetic engineering. Glucose transporter
and hexokinase genes were transferred to the salmonid fish.
Fish oil is economically important in fish feed production, as well as to human
health. The demand for fish oil continued to grow alongside the expansion of
aquaculture industry because it is a major lipid source in aquafeeds. The
aquaculture industry takes up to almost 90 percent of the global fish oil production.
With this growing demand, it is necessary to have other sources of fish oil. 3

Rothamsted Research scientists developed camelina oilseed plants that were

genetically engineered to produce omega-3 fish oils in their seeds. Omega-3 fish
oils are known to be beneficial components of human nutrition. GM camelina has
the potential to supply healthful fish oil for human diet. 4

Health Management. Traditional disease diagnosis involves analysis of cells and

tissues of organisms, which takes a long time to be done. Modern methods use
polymerase chain reaction, a technique used in molecular biology to focus on a
segment of the DNA and copy it million times over in a short span of time. 5 PCR
enables accurate identification of pathogens in marine organisms even without
visual symptoms of the disease. Since marine organisms are capable of
transboundary movement, it is vital to diagnose diseases accurately because of
their implication to quarantine and trade.3

The shrimp industry faces risk of losses due to several viral pathogens such as the
white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), yellow head virus, Taura syndrome virus,
hepatopancreatic parvovirus, and baculoviruses. Scientists find it hard to devise
treatment for viral diseases in crustaceans like shrimps because they do not
possess true adaptive immune response system and they react to diseases by non-
specific innate immune mechanisms. Identification and characterization of genes
involved in immune response in shrimps are vital to comprehend host-pathogen
interactions. Genes from giant tiger prawns (Penaeus monodon) and Japanese tiger
prawn (P. japonicus) exhibited antiviral activity after being cloned and upregulated
in WSSV-infected shrimp. 3

Aside from antiviral agents, RNA interference (RNAi) or gene-silencing has also been
used to control virus infection. A short interfering RNA (vp28-siRNA) targeting a
major envelope protein gene of WSSV was used to induce gene silencing in P.
japonicus. This resulted to significant decrease of viral DNA production and lower
mortality rates. Furthermore, after three injections of vp28-siRNA, the virus was
wiped out from the WSSV-infected shrimp.3
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is a potential alternative to antibiotics for
aquaculture because no resistance to AMPs has been reported to date. AMPs are
considered as major components in the innate immune defense system of marine
organisms because they exhibit antimicrobial properties and provide an immediate
and fast action against invading microorganisms.6, 3 Examples of AMPs found in
marine organisms include penaeidins from shrimps, mytimicin from mussel,
halocidin from sea peaches, callinectin from blue crab, big defensin from tri-spine
horseshoe crab, and clavaspirin from club sea squirt.6

Vaccines are another cost-effective means to protect fish from viral diseases and
prevent spread of diseases. Fish vaccines have been considered as the key reason
in the success of salmon industry. An example of a vaccine for salmon is known as
Apex-IHN which confers resistance to haemotopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV).3,7

Growth Promotion. Majority of transgenic research on commercially important fish

species are focused on improving growth rates by transfer of growth hormones.
This is economically sound because transgenic fish with altered growth traits reach
maturity in a shorter span of time than non-transgenic fish and exhibit better feed
conversion efficiency.3 These advantages further translate to shorter production
cycle, lower production costs, and reduced pollution in aquaculture facility.

In 2015, AquAdvantage salmon with growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon
became the first genetically engineered fish approved for commercial use after it
was proven to be safe to eat like non-GE Atlantic salmon, by the US Food and Drug
Administration.8 It was also approved for commercial use in Canada in 2016.9

Medicine
Over 2,000 years ago, extracts from marine organisms were used as medicine. In
the 19th and 20th century, cod liver oil is one of the famous nutritional
supplements. It was only in the middle of 20th century when scientists started to
systematically navigate the oceans for medicines. 1

When scientists were studying the defense mechanisms of sea creatures, they
discovered the vast defensive chemical weapons of the organisms. In 1950s, Ross
Nigrelli from New York Zoological Society extracted a toxin called holothurin from
Bahamian sea cucumber (Actynopyga agassizi), which showed anti-tumor activity in
mice. Holothurin was not commercialized but the number of potential bioactive
compounds from the ocean spiked up and more are being discovered each year.
Scientists have used biotechnology to make copies of the marine compounds in the
laboratory so they don't have to be constantly harvested from marine life. Some
have been commercialized, while others are undergoing clinical or pre-clinical
tests.1 Table 1 summarizes some of the commercialized medicines derived from
marine organisms.

Table 1. Drugs derived from marine organisms1, 10, 11

Product Source Application

Cephalosporin Fungi (Cephalosporium) Antibiotic
Squalamine Spiny dogfish (Squalus Antibiotic
acanthus)
Vidrabine/Ara-A Caribbean sponge (Tethya Antiviral
crypta)
Cytarabine/Ara-C Caribbean sponge (Tethya Anticancer
crypta)
Ziconotide Cone snail (Conus magus) Analgesic
Trabectedin Caribbean Anticancer
tunicate (Ecteinascidia
turbinata)
Eribulin mesylate Marine sponge (Halichondria Anticancer
okadai)

Other marine-derived drugs are still in clinical trials. These include cytotoxic
compounds bryostatin 1 and the dolastatin derivatives soblidotin and synthadotin.
Aside from these drugs, more products are in the preclinical pipeline. The number
of marine compounds reported is increasing every year, with over 1,000 new
compounds with varied potencies and biological functions added to the pipeline
each year.6

Environment
Degradation of environmental pollutants is an important concern globally. Studies
have shown that marine microorganisms exhibit unique biodegradation pathways
for breaking down several organic pollutants. Immobilized cells of
bacterium Pseudomonas chlororaphis produce pyoverdin, which hastens the
breakdown of toxic organotin compounds in seawater. Other studies have also
shown that some marine organisms produce eco-friendly chemicals like
biopolymers and biosurfactants which can be used in environmental waste
management and treatment. 1

Biofuel
Biofuels from microalgae is one of the economically viable ways to reduce fossil
fuel consumption. Microalgae are considered better sources of biofuels than higher
plants because of their high oil content; ease of propagation (can be cultivated in
seawater or brackish water, thus do not compete with the resources of
conventional agriculture); residual biomass after oil extraction can be used as feed
or fertilizer or fermented to produce ethanol or methane; and the biochemical
composition can be controlled by modifying growth conditions. Microalgae with
superior biomass productivity and lipid content include Chlorella, Tetraselmis,
Chaetoceros, Isochrysis, Skeletonema, and Nannochloropsis.3