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Rapid growth of seaweed biotechnology provides opportunities for developing nations

Nature Biotechnology volume 31, pages 591–592 (2013)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

New developments in biology and biotechnology1 and the diversification of the use of marine biological resources in increasingly sophisticated products2 are accelerating the domestication of marine biodiversity and the emerging patent market of marine biotechnology. Whereas the rate of discovery of new marine species is slow (0.93% per year)2, the number of domesticated marine species is growing at about 3% per year1, the number of natural marine products of commercial interest (e.g., cosmetics, industrial enzymes or genes derived from marine organisms) and marine gene patents are growing at a rate of 4% per year and 12% per year, respectively2,3, and marine aquaculture production is growing at 7% per year1. Collectively, the steep growth in the use of marine biological resources represents a fundamental change in the way humans derive benefits from the oceans1.

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Figure 1: Distribution of seaweed aquaculture and applications for research papers (top left), tons produced (top right) and patent registrations (bottom).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Global Change Research, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, Esporles, Spain

    Inés Mazarrasa, Ylva S Olsen, Eva Mayol, Núria Marbà & Carlos M Duarte

  2. The UWA Oceans Institute and School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia

    Ylva S Olsen & Carlos M Duarte

  3. Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Carlos M Duarte

Authors
  1. Inés Mazarrasa
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  2. Ylva S Olsen
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  3. Eva Mayol
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  4. Núria Marbà
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  5. Carlos M Duarte
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Correspondence to Inés Mazarrasa.

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Mazarrasa, I., Olsen, Y., Mayol, E. et al. Rapid growth of seaweed biotechnology provides opportunities for developing nations. Nat Biotechnol 31, 591–592 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2636

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