Blue biotechnology: what is it?

With green biotechnologies, red biotechnology and the white biotechnologiesthem blue biotechnologies (also called marine biotechnologies) constitute a particular category of biotechnologies. They use marine resources (essentially algae and micro-algae) as their basic materials. More broadly, this term refers to biotechnologies implementing marine organisms.

Blue biotechnologies, significant potential

For some researchers, the potential of marine biotechnology, even if it has not yet been fully exploited, is great. Marine organisms, in fact, are generally more specialized than terrestrial organisms because they evolve in a more hostile environment.

However, other researchers warn against a tendency to overestimate the potential of marine biotechnologies, taking into account the difficulty of obtaining and exploiting the marine resources in question.

Marine biotechnologies and their applications

The apps blue biotechnologies are numerous. Maritime resources can indeed have uses in cosmetology (creams, thalassotherapy, etc.) and in the food industry (food supplementsfertilizers, etc.) but also in the sector ofenergy (notably biofuels) or pharmacology.

Some concrete examples

Materials compatible with food or cosmetic uses can thus be produced based on algae derivatives. Of the active subtances from oysters seem to have an effect on slowing down aging cutaneous. Furthermore, it is possible to make biofuels from algae or, more precisely, from triglycerides contained in algae.