Microalgae are ideal phototrophs for many commercial products. Our previous research has leveraged biodiversity concepts to evaluate the effects of competition on dynamics and coexistence of different microalgal species. The originality of the review lies in the envisioning of these state‐of‐the‐art techniques to study a novel issue of how algal species modulate the whole‐cell metabolism and gene expression to yield biomass beyond current limits. Competition is crucial in driving the activity, structure and composition of algal communities which are of central importance to aquatic environment productivity. However, fundamental gaps remain in understanding how algal species compete for light and nitrogen by regulating whole‐cell metabolisms. Moreover, it is unclear how this competitive potential is modulated in algal populations to achieve high biomass production. Despite the principles and applications of competition having been tested theoretically and empirically in many studies, there is still considerable debate and paradoxical observations regarding the key mechanisms that underlie competition for limited nutrients. One reason for the uncertainty is the difficulty in making direct comparisons between species with differing functional traits. Moreover, the lack of available reference genomes for many algal species presents a further hindrance in understanding competitive trait dynamics. The review seeks to improve our understanding of these fundamental problems, which have direct implications in aiding the production of renewable fuels and chemicals via photosynthetic biology. The review also envisions a whole set of omics analysis in the future that would shed light on the poorly defined functions of competition in microalgae.

中文翻译：

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利用微藻竞争能力获取氮和光

微藻是许多商业产品的理想光养生物。我们之前的研究利用生物多样性概念来评估竞争对不同微藻物种动态和共存的影响。该评论的独创性在于设想这些最先进的技术来研究藻类物种如何调节全细胞代谢和基因表达以产生超出当前限制的生物量的新问题。竞争对于推动对水生环境生产力至关重要的藻类群落的活动、结构和组成至关重要。然而，在理解藻类物种如何通过调节全细胞代谢来竞争光和氮方面仍然存在根本性的差距。而且，目前尚不清楚如何在藻类种群中调节这种竞争潜力以实现高生物量生产。尽管竞争的原理和应用已经在许多研究中进行了理论和实证检验，但对于有限营养竞争的关键机制仍然存在相当多的争论和自相矛盾的观察。不确定性的原因之一是难以在具有不同功能特征的物种之间进行直接比较。此外，许多藻类物种缺乏可用的参考基因组进一步阻碍了了解竞争性状动态。该评论旨在提高我们对这些基本问题的理解，这些问题对通过光合生物学帮助生产可再生燃料和化学品具有直接影响。