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Application of Oil Red O staining in oleaginous microalgae: practical uses in screening and lipid quantification of different species

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Abstract

For both bioprospecting of oleaginous microalgae and routine analysis of lipid levels in these microorganisms, reliable techniques are needed. Methods usually used for these purposes include fluorescent staining of lipids and gravimetric determination. In this research, we evaluate the application of a specific Oil Red O staining technique to detect accumulated lipids in the microalgae Chlorella sp., Nitzschia laevis, and Crypthecodinium cohnii. In addition, the viability to evaluate lipid accumulation levels in these microalgae is also analyzed. This methodology offers a less expensive alternative in the study of lipid accumulation levels in oleaginous microalgae since it requires small amounts of cells and low-complexity analytical equipment for its application.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Funding

This work was supported by the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL–CAI+D 2016, 50120150100070LI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Fermentaciones, Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Ciudad Universitaria, S3000ZAA, Santa Fe, Argentina

    Vanina Marquez & Alejandro Beccaria

Authors
  1. Vanina Marquez
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  2. Alejandro Beccaria
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Contributions

Both authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by Vanina Marquez. Both authors contributed to data analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Alejandro Beccaria and both authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Vanina Marquez.

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Marquez, V., Beccaria, A. Application of Oil Red O staining in oleaginous microalgae: practical uses in screening and lipid quantification of different species. J Appl Phycol 32, 1755–1761 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-020-02098-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-020-02098-0

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