The biotechnological potential of Asparagopsis armata: What is known of its chemical composition, bioactivities and current market?

Abstract

Marine biomass is a resource with great potential to fuel a circular bioeconomy addressing the current economic and environmental world crisis, while seaweeds are known to be a great source of bioactive compounds with potential use for human and animal nutrition, novel natural preservatives, phytopharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, among others. Asparagopsis armata (Harvey, 1855) is a seaweed with high biomass production and exquisite biotechnological potential due to a myriad of produced secondary metabolites. Furthermore, it is one of the most aggressive invasive seaweed species becoming an economic and ecological problem in Europe. Simultaneously, it is a resource with market demand for its applications in cosmetics and, more recently, for its potential anti-methanogenic activity in ruminants. There is an appreciable amount of literature concerning the chemistry and the bioactivity of this seaweed species (and particularly its gametophyte, the focus of this review), as well as multiple products in the cosmetics market, but all this information is scattered and therefore poorly used. To potentiate the bioindustry of A. armata, the available scientific knowledge is here reviewed and an overview of the market for this species is comprehensively provided. Thus, the chemical composition of A. armata (primary metabolism, polysaccharide characteristics, amino acid profile, and non-halogenated and halogenated secondary metabolites), its bioactivities (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiprotozoal, antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, among others) and the existent, marketed extracts (cosmetic ingredients) are thoroughly compiled and discussed herein.