Tendencias en biotecnología algal en América Latina: Un análisis del VI Congreso Latinoamericano de Biotecnología Algal.

The biotechnology in Latin America has had a substantial increase in scientific productions occupying 4.96% of the world production, being Brazil and México the countries that generate the highest production. Since 2004, the Latin American Congress of Algal Biotechnology (CLABA) has been held, bringing together different specialized branches in both micro and macro algae. The aim of this work is to get an approximation on the trends in algal biotechnology in Latin America using as data the researches presented in the VI CLABA carried out in October 2017 in Lima (Peru). The information was organized in a matrix where the species used were identified; likewise, it was classified according to the phylum and the groups of eukaryotes/bacteria. In the same way, the investigations were classified according to their application. Chlorophyta (47%), Cyanobacteria (16%) and Ochrophyta (13%) were among the most relevant groups in terms of phylum; on the other hand, the most outstanding group of eukaryote/bacteria were Archaeplastida (57%), Stramenopiles (24%) and Cyanobacteria (17%). It is interesting that, in spite of being a congress of algae, 16% of organisms used were cyanobacteria, probably due to the taxonomic tradition in this group of polyphyletic organisms. The most used applications in this congress are oriented to aquaculture and care of the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]