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Updated: Feb 1, 2026

Size Matters: Measurement of Capsule Diameter in Cryptococcus neoformans
Published on: February 27, 2018
Using non-ionic surfactant as an accelerator to increase extracellular lipid production by oleaginous yeast
Xiang-Feng Huang1, Yi-Han Wang1, Yi Shen1
1College of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
Abstract:
The aim of this work was to study the effects of non-ionic surfactant on the accumulation of total microbial lipids and extracellular lipid by Cryptococcus curvatus MUCL 29819 with acetic acid as carbon source. Compared with Brij 58 and Triton X-100, Brij 58 most increased the total lipids, with a yield up to 2.84 g/L (extracellular lipid up to 47%). Brij 58 also increased the metabolic flow of acetic acid to lipid accumulation (maximum conversion of 0.54 g/g at 1.0 g/L Brij 58) and limited its conversion to non-lipid biomass (minimum conversion 0.12 g/g at 0.5 g/L Brij 58). The improvement in the proportion of extracellular lipid by tea saponin and Brij 58 was due to changes in cell membrane permeability and improvement of cell membrane fluidity. Triton X-100, having weaker surface activity, promoted release of extracellular lipid and also increased the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acid (C22:6, docosahexaenoic acid).
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