Advancement of microalgae for use as biofuel feedstock depends on bioprospecting novel strains and then applying classical strain improvement techniques to enhance desirable traits. Here we successfully demonstrate this approach using two novel strains of green algae, identified as Desmodesmus armatus and Chlorella vulgaris, to improve biomass and lipid yields. UV irradiation was utilized to generate random mutations and the resulting populations were analyzed via flow cytometry to quantify lipid fluorescence while enriching for high lipid variants using fluorescence activated cell sorting. Secondary screening was performed via in situ fluorescence staining to identify the single highest lipid producing mutants from each strain. This approach produced a Desmodesmus armatus mutant that exhibited both increased biomass productivity and higher lipid content, which doubled lipid yield from the culture. The resulting Chlorella vulgaris mutant exhibited an increase in growth only, resulting in a 33% increase in lipid yield.

用作生物燃料原料的微藻类的发展取决于对新菌株的生物勘探，然后应用经典的菌株改良技术来增强所需的性状。在这里，我们成功地证明了使用两种新颖的绿藻菌株（称为地衣藻和小球藻）来改善生物量和脂质产量的方法。利用紫外线照射产生随机突变，并通过流式细胞仪分析所得群体以定量脂质荧光，同时使用荧光激活的细胞分选富集高脂质变体。通过原位荧光染色进行二次筛选，以鉴定来自每个菌株的单个最高脂质产生突变体。这种方法产生了展示了增加的生物量生产力和更高的脂质含量的杜氏Desmodesmus armatus突变体，使培养物中的脂质产量增加了一倍。所得的小球藻突变体仅表现出生长增加，导致脂质产量增加了33％。