Harnessing synthetic biology to enhance ocean health.

Trends in biotechnology
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Ocean health is faltering, its capability for regeneration and renewal being eroded by a steady pulse of anthropomorphic impacts. Plastic waste has infiltrated all ocean biomes, climate change threatens coral reefs with extinction, and eutrophication has unleashed vast algal blooms. In the face of these challenges, synthetic biology approaches may hold untapped solutions to mitigate adverse effects, repair ecosystems, and put us on a path towards sustainable stewardship of our planet. Leveraging synthetic biology tools would enable innovative engineering approaches to augment the natural adaptive capacity of ocean biological systems to cope with the swiftness of human-induced change. Here, we present a framework for developing synthetic biology solutions for the challenges of plastic pollution, coral bleaching, and harmful algal blooms.

Year of Publication
2023
Journal
Trends in biotechnology
Date Published
01/2023
ISSN
1879-3096
DOI
10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.12.015
PubMed ID
36669947
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