ABSTRACT
Environmental pollution is a growing issue, and ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, seas, lakes, and lagoons are worsening due to the arrival of pollutants that harm the fauna and flora present. Aquatic ecosystems, which receive many polluted effluents from domestic, industrial, and storm wastewater, are one of the ecosystems with the greatest impact. A series of chemical, physical, and biological solutions for the treatment and recycling of these heterogeneous effluents with high loads of organic and inorganic compounds have been developed through an attempt to mitigate the negative impact produced by wastewater. Biological components have an advantage over other strategies in the treatment of polluted environments. Such a biologic group includes bacteria, fungi, plants, algae, and microalgae, which all could treat and recycle wastewater. Previous experiences in the use and application of microalgae in the treatment of contaminated environments have successfully been carried out, showing the great potential of microorganisms, in addition to their innate capacity to produce carbon and fix CO2, production of antimicrobial compounds, production of biofuels, among others. The use of molecular tools has allowed the study of different molecular processes, and the integration of omics techniques (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.) has improved our understanding of different complex mechanisms of these autotrophic microorganisms. In addition, each omics strategy contributes in a particular way to understanding the specific complex mechanisms that govern the growth, development, and response of microalgae to different stressors. This chapter aims to highlight the application of omics strategies in the study of microalgae with potential in the treatment and recycling of domestic, industrial, and storm wastewater, as well as the integration of these omics to generate global application platforms for the understanding of molecular behavior in the biological processes of microalgae.
