Microalgae have the potential to become microbial cell factories for lipid production. Their ability to convert sunlight and CO₂ into valuable lipid compounds has attracted interest from cosmetic, biofuel, food and feed industries.

In order to make microalgae-derived products cost-effective and commercially competitive, enhanced growth rates and lipid productivities are needed, which require optimization of cultivation systems and strain improvement. Advances in genetic tool development and omics technologies have increased our understanding of lipid metabolism, which has opened up possibilities for targeted metabolic engineering. In this review we provide a comprehensive overview on the developments made to genetically engineer microalgal strains over the last 30 years. We focus on the strategies that lead to an increased lipid content and altered fatty acid profile. These include the genetic engineering of the fatty acid synthesis pathway, Kennedy pathway, polyunsaturated fatty acid and triacylglycerol metabolisms and fatty acid catabolism. Moreover, genetic engineering of specific transcription factors, NADPH generation and central carbon metabolism, which lead to increase of lipid accumulation are also reviewed.

微藻有可能成为生产脂质的微生物细胞工厂。它们将阳光和 CO ₂转化为有价值的脂质化合物的能力引起了化妆品、生物燃料、食品和饲料行业的兴趣。

为了使微藻衍生产品具有成本效益和商业竞争力，需要提高生长速度和脂质生产率，这需要优化培养系统和菌株改良。遗传工具开发和组学技术的进步增加了我们对脂质代谢的理解，这为靶向代谢工程开辟了可能性。在这篇综述中，我们全面概述了过去 30 年来基因工程微藻菌株的发展。我们专注于导致脂质含量增加和脂肪酸分布改变的策略。这些包括脂肪酸合成途径、肯尼迪途径、多不饱和脂肪酸和三酰甘油代谢和脂肪酸分解代谢的基因工程。而且，