Research review paper Marine biotechnology advances towards applications in new functional foods ☆ Ana C. Freitas a, b, ⁎, Dina Rodrigues b , Teresa A.P. Rocha-Santos a, b , Ana M.P. Gomes c , Armando C. Duarte b a ISEIT/Viseu, Instituto Piaget, Estrada do Alto do Gaio, Galifonge, 3515-776 Lordosa, Viseu, Portugal b CESAM & Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal c CBQF/Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Catholic University, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, P-4200-072 Porto, Portugal abstract article info Article history: Received 27 December 2011 Received in revised form 20 March 2012 Accepted 20 March 2012 Available online xxxx Keywords: Marine Biotechnology Functional foods Ingredients The marine ecosystem is still an untapped reservoir of biologically active compounds, which have consider- able potential to supply food ingredients towards development of new functional foods. With the goal of in- creasing the availability and chemical diversity of functional marine ingredients, much research has been developed using biotechnological tools to discover and produce new compounds. This review summarizes the advances in biotechnological tools for production of functional ingredients, in- cluding enzymes, for the food industry. Tools involving biotechnological processes (bioreactors, fermenta- tions, bioprocessing) and those involving genetic research designated as molecular biotechnology are discussed highlighting how they can be used in the controlled manipulation and utilization of marine organ- isms as sources of food ingredients, as well as discussing the most relevant shortcomings towards applica- tions in new functional foods. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 2. Marine functional ingredients and their sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 3. Functional foods incorporating marine ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 4. Marine biotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 4.1. Biotechnological processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 4.1.1. Cell factories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 4.1.2. Bio-processing technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 4.2. Molecular biotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 4.2.1. Marine metagenomic approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 4.2.2. Transgenic approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 5. Final considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 1. Introduction Nowadays consumers are increasingly aware of the relationship between diet, health and disease prevention. It is well known that consumption of foods such as fruits, vegetables, cereals and marine foods rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) beyond meeting basic nutritional needs, is also fundamental for health promotion and disease risk reduction (Shahidi, 2009). Research studies in the past years have correlated diet and some chronic diseases, therefore highlighting the enormous potential of foods in the prevention and progression of chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis (Casós et al., 2008), cancer (Trottier et al., 2010) and symptoms relief in osteoar- thritic patients (Ameye and Chee, 2006). Despite today's consumers being increasingly conscious of food safety, quality and health related issues, populations from the so called developed countries, namely populations from the European Union (EU) and United States of America (USA), still have much to do in what concerns strategies to fight modern age diseases such as cardiopathies, obesity, osteoporosis, Biotechnology Advances xxx (2012) xxx–xxx ☆ This manuscript has been submitted for publication in Biotechnology Advances. It is not to be reproduced or cited without the written permission of the authors. ⁎ Corresponding author at: ISEIT/Viseu, Instituto Piaget, Estrada do Alto do Gaio, Galifonge, 3515-776 Lordosa, Viseu, Portugal. Tel.: +351 232910017; fax: +351 232910193. E-mail address: acfreitas@ua.pt (A.C. Freitas). JBA-06571; No of Pages 10 0734-9750/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2012.03.006 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Biotechnology Advances journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biotechadv Please cite this article as: Freitas AC, et al, Marine biotechnology advances towards applications in new functional foods, Biotechnol Adv (2012), doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2012.03.006