Light Utilization Strategies in Photosynthetic Microbial Mats May Give Hints to Improve Cyanobacterial Biomass Production

Understanding the adaptations and the strategies adopted by microorganisms inhabiting environmental ecosystems may provide good guidance for many applications that involve microorganisms. These applications can be useful in different fields such as medicine and pharmaceutical products, industry, biofuels and agriculture. Cyanobacteria in photosynthetic microbial mats have developed fascinating strategies to utilize light at different light quantities and qualities. In this review, these strategies and their possible applications are discussed, especially that more attention has been recently given to algal and cyanobacterial biomass production for several important products. Additionally, an algal biofilm strategy is suggested as a potential approach for biomass production, which might be easier to control with respect to growth conditions and harvesting method than the traditional open pond approach.