Silicon has become of increasing importance as the basic element of many high-technology products. Its synthesis is very difficult requiring high temperature solid-state reactions (> $1000^{\circ}C$) or lower temperature methods ($100-200^{\circ}C$) involving hydrothermal and solvothermal reactions under extreme pH conditions. In nature, on the other hand, a wide range of living organisms have collectively evolved the means of biosilicification at the astounding rate of gigatons/year. This is impressive because biosilicification in these organisms occurs under mild physiological conditions. Marine sponges possess the ability to sequester soluble silicon sources from their environments and assemble them into intricate 3D architecture. The advent of molecular biology has recently made it possible to glean molecular information about biosilicification from these systems and it turned out that enzyme silicatein is the core of biosilicification. In this review, biosilicification regulated by silicatein and its mechanism are described. Also, production of silicatein through recombinant technology and several applications of recombinant silicatein are described including immobilization of silicatein, formation of Au or Ag nanoparticles on nanowires, nanolithography approaches, core-shell materials, encapsulation, bone replacement materials, and microstructured optical fibers.

A synthetic pathway, which consisted of fatty acid double bond hydratase, alcohol dehydrogenase, and Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase, was applied to Chlorella oil to produce ester fatty acids, which can be hydrolyzed into medium chain fatty acids. Since linoleic acid is a major fatty acid constituent of Chlorella oil, a fatty acid double bond hydratase from Lactobacillus acidophilus NBRC13951, which is able to convert linoleic acid into 13-hydroxyoctadec-9-enoic acid, was used. Recombinant Escherichia coli expressing the fatty acid double bond hydratase from L. acidophilus NBRC13951 successfully transformed linoleic acid in Chlorella oil hydrolysates into 13-hydroxyoctadec-9-enoic acid with approximately 60% conversion yield. 13-Hydroxyoctadec-9-enoic acid was further converted into ester fatty acids by the recombinant E. coli expressing a long chain secondary alcohol dehydrogenase and a Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase. The resulting ester fatty acids were then hydrolyzed into medium chain fatty acids by a lipase. Overall, industrially relevant medium chain fatty acids were produced from Chlorella oil hydrolysates. Thereby, this study may contribute to biosynthesis of medium chain fatty acids from microalgae oils as well as long chain fatty acids.

Sargassum fulvellum (gulfweed) is a widespread seaweed in the coastal areas of northeast Asia. In the present study, we identified the phenolic compounds present in aqueous and ethanolic extracts of S. fulvellum and evaluated their antioxidative properties and their abilities to block cell proliferation using in vitro assays: antioxidant activity was assessed by using a DPPH assay and superoxide anion scavenging activity, anti-tyrosinase activity, and anti-proliferative activity were assessed using MTT and lactate dehydrogenase [LDH] assays in vascular smooth muscle cells. The hot-water ($65^{\circ}C$) extract had a higher phenol content than the ethanolic extract. The hot-water extract showed a statistically significant increase in free radical scavenging activity and a greater ability to reduce proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor-BB. Taken together, hot-water extracts of S. fulvellum may be an important source of antioxidative and antiproliferative agents.

An active ingredient with hyaluronidase (HAse) inhibitory effect is one of the anti-aging approaches in cosmeceuticals. Here, red sea cucumbers (RSCs), Stichopus japonicus, from Jeju Island were evaluated to examine their HAse inhibitory and antioxidant activity effect. In this study, RSCs were extracted by six enzymatic hydrolysis (Alcalase; Al, Trypsin; Try, Neutrase; Neu, Pepsin; Pep, Alpha-chymotrypsin; Chy and Protamex; Pro). Alcalase hydrolysate (AlH) showed the highest antioxidant capacities for both of oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) methods, compared to those of other hydrolysates, at $66.59{\pm}0.78{\mu}M\;TE/mg$ and $135.78{\pm}3.24{\mu}M\;TE/mg$, respectively. Furthermore, AlH performed the highest capacity of HAse inhibitory with $IC_{50}$ value of 3.21 mg/ml. Thus, RSCs hydrolyzed by Al were chosen to determine the cellular antioxidant activity and hyaluronic acid (HA) production effect on Human immortalized keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT). The results showed that AlH improved the cell viabilities and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by 2,2'-Azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH) were significantly decreased. In addition, AlH increased HA amount by regulating HYAL2 and HAS2 expressions in the HaCaT cells. Taken together, AlH of RSCs collected from Jeju Island showed HAse inhibitory and antioxidant activities against skin-aging which shows its potentials can be an optional natural bioactive ingredient for novel cosmeceuticals.

Chlorella are source of valuable compounds as lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, bioactive compounds. To continuous obtain the high-value materials of Chlorella protothecoides, we performed continuous cultivation after applying milking techniques to C. protothecoides grown with culture for 7 days in optical panel bioreactor (OPBR) system. Fatty acid and lutein in extracts from pre- and post-milking of C. protothecoides were analyzed using gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, respectively. C. protothecoides were rich in unsaturated fatty acids with a high content of oleic acid(C18:1), which is suitable as a biofuel feedstock. The fatty acid content in pre- and post-milking of C. protothecoides was decreased from 126.424mg/g d.w. to 119.341mg/g d.w, and the lutein content decreased from 0.258mg/g d.w. to 0.178mg/g d.w. The results of this study demonstrate the feasibility of milking C. protothecoides for production of lipids for biofuels production. It was confirmed that microalgae can continuously obtain lutein present in a trace amount through a continuous culture from milking.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation causes inflammation and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) over-expression and extra cellular matrix depletion, leading to skin photo-aging such as wrinkle formation, dryness, and sagging. In this study, we demonstrated that pretreatment with the hexane extract of microalgae protects UVB mediated cell damages. The results of clinical study showed that Microalgal Oil treated group reduced wrinkle and improve elasticity. All these results suggest Microalgal Oil may be useful as new photo-aging cosmetics for protection against UV induced activity.

There are many eutrophic lakes by point and non-point pollution sources such as in dustrial waste water, domestic raw sewage, and mucks. The eutrophic lakes not only cause algal blooms but also destroy the ecosystem in the lakes due to high nutrient concentrations. The purpose of this study was to improve water quality in eutrophic lakes by cultivating microalgae using photobioreactors (PBRs) with selectively permeable mesh (SPM), supplying nutrients in the lake and inhibiting cell leakage by diffusion and water permeability. Chlorella vulgaris, was cultivated using PBRs with SPM installed in Inkyung Lake located in Inha university, Incheon, Korea. When cultivating C. vulgaris, $8.3g/m^2/day$ of average biomass productivity was obtained at 3 days. Furthermore, concentrations of total nitrogen and phosphorus were reduced by 35.7% and 84.2%, respectively, compared to initial condition and water quality in eutrophic lake was improved to oligotrophic environment. These results suggest that microalgal cultivation using PBRs with SPM in the lake could produce microalgal biomass as well as improve water quality by decreasing nutrient concentrations.