Crustaceans used in Biotechnology

GORTARI, M.C.; HOURS, R.A.

The Natural History of the Crustacea. Vol. 9, Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Oxford University Press

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2020; p. 463 - 493

Exploitation of aquatic natural resources contributes to the world population with important economic and social services. According to the latest FAO statistics, aquaculture production reached 167.2 million t in 2014, representing values of nearly $285 billion USD. Particularly, crustacean production represents 9% of the total, representing almost 7 Mt, which generates a great amount of waste, mainly from the exoskeletons. The increasing tendency towards a responsible and sustainable production that combines the economic development and the conservation of natural resources has generated changes regarding the production management. Within this framework, the biotechnological use of waste not only provides an added value to materials that have been traditionally discarded but can also reduce the environmental contamination resulting from their chemical processing. Thus, there is an opportunity for the preparation of substances with high aggregate value, such as chitin and its derivatives (chitosan, chito-oligosaccharides, and glucosamine), proteins, lipids and carotenoid pigments. By-products resulting from the processing of crustaceans have potential applications in the food, pharmaceutical, textile, biomedical and agricultural industries as well as in bio- and nanotechnology. In addition, the biomimetic of the structures, functions and properties of the exoskeletons of crustaceans and the processes involved in their formation constitute the basis for the development of diverse structures such as laminates or buildings, the creation of new materials that are potentially useful in diverse areas and the adoption of novel modes of technologies.