Fucoxanthin Bioproduction from Marine Diatoms: Regulatory Strategies and Industrial Potential of Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Odontella aurita—A Review

Abstract

Fucoxanthin is a high-value marine xanthophyll with a unique epoxy-allene structure, predominantly produced by brown macroalgae and marine diatoms, and additionally reported in other heterokont lineages including chrysophytes and certain haptophytes. As a core light-harvesting pigment, it exhibits multiple bioactivities including lipid-lowering, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects, with broad applications in functional foods, dietary supplements, and pharmaceuticals. Currently, over 70% of commercial fucoxanthin is extracted from brown macroalgae such as Saccharina japonica and Undaria pinnatifida. However, due to low endogenous pigment content and significant extraction losses, the industrial yield is only 0.05–0.1% of dry weight, failing to meet the growing downstream demand for stable high-purity supply. Marine diatoms, characterized by short growth cycles, high pigment content, and controllable culture conditions, have emerged as a core direction for industrial upgrading. Among them, Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Odontella aurita are the two most systematically studied high-yield strains with outstanding potential. This review adopts volumetric productivity (mg/(L·d)) as the core evaluation metric, which integrates biomass concentration, pigment content, and production cycle, and reflects industrial efficiency more reliably than single intracellular content data. We summarize high-yield induction methods from the dimensions of nutrient regulation, light optimization, exogenous induction, and strain improvement, and systematically compare downstream processing, safety profiles, and regulatory status between the two diatoms. Furthermore, we evaluate multi-product co-production potential and scale-up performance from a techno-economic perspective. This review provides a side-by-side benchmark of these two marine diatoms, offering a data-driven reference for process development and industrial deployment of microalgae-derived fucoxanthin.