The marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum as a versatile bioproduction chassis: Current progress, challenges, and perspectives

Abstract Beyond its importance in diatom studies, the marine model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum has emerged as a versatile photosynthetic chassis for sustainable bioproduction, enabling the production of both native bioactive metabolites and engineered heterologous compounds through synthetic biology. Over the past three decades, transformative advances in the development of genetic tools, including transgenic element optimization, CRISPR–Cas genome editing, and high-efficiency transformation systems, have enabled the engineering of strains for increased fucoxanthin, fatty acid, and triacylglycerol yields and the successful synthesis