AUTHOR=Jones Patrik R. 

TITLE=Genetic Instability in Cyanobacteria – An Elephant in the Room?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2014.00012

DOI=10.3389/fbioe.2014.00012

ISSN=2296-4185

ABSTRACT=<p>Many research groups are interested in engineering the metabolism of cyanobacteria with the objective to convert solar energy, CO<sub>2</sub>, and water (perhaps also N<sub>2</sub>) into commercially valuable products. Toward this objective, many challenges stand in the way before sustainable production can be realized. One of these challenges, potentially, is genetic instability. Although only a handful of reports of this phenomenon are available in the scientific literature, it does appear to be a real issue that so far has not been studied much in cyanobacteria. With this brief perspective, I wish to raise the awareness of this potential issue and hope to inspire future studies on the topic as I believe it will make an important contribution to enabling sustainable large-scale biotechnology in the future using aquatic photobiological microorganisms.</p>