Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms that convert sunlight and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into biomass for sustainable biotechnology. As CO 2 -negative alternatives to conventional plastics are urgently needed, these ancient “green factories” offer a promising platform for biodegradable materials. Here, we report progress in producing polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) using filamentous cyanobacteria uncoupled from nitrogen depl...

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are a promising bio-based alternative to traditional plastics derived from petroleum. Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms that produce PHA from CO 2 and sunlight, which can potentially reduce production costs and environmental footprint in comparison to heterotrophic bacteria cultures because (1) they utilize inorganic carbon sources for growth and (2) they do not require intensive aeration f...

Global crises like climate change require the transformation of our industry towards more sustainability. Applying metabolic engineering to cyanobacteria promises to use these phototrophic bacteria for the biosynthesis of carbon-neutral products. As one example, we present how recent advances in basic research have now led to the ability to produce high quantities of bioplastics in cyanobacteria.

Summary Cyanobacteria evolved sophisticated mechanisms allowing them to cope with environmental depletion of combined nitrogen. Here, we describe progress in understanding the processes involved in acclimation of nondiazotrophic cyanobacteria to nitrogen shortage, known as nitrogen chlorosis. The process includes immediate metabolic changes and degradation of light harvesting complexes as well as long‐term acclimation response...