Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2026
Label-Free Imaging of Lipid Storage Dynamics in Caenorhabditis elegans using Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy
Published on: May 28, 2021
Improved High-Throughput Raman-Activated Cell Sorting Yields a High-DHA Aurantiochytrium Mutant with Enhanced Lipid
Sen Wang1,2,3,4, Xixian Wang1,2,3,4, Caili Sun1,2,3
1CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Shandong Engineering Research Center of Single Cell Oil, Qingdao Engineering Laboratory of Single Cell Oil, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, Shandong, China.
Abstract:
Industrial microbial strain breeding remains hindered by the inherent bottleneck of low-throughput phenotypic screening. Here, a high-throughput Raman-activated cell sorting strategy was employed to directly quantify the intracellular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content in single cells of the thraustochytrid Aurantiochytrium sp. SD116, eliminating the need for prolonged cultivation and lipid extraction. From a mutant library of 50,000 cells, a strain designated ABBS26, exhibiting a DHA content exceeding 65%, was isolated. Omics analysis revealed that the high DHA content of ABBS26 stems from robust lipid recycling, particularly targeting saturated fatty acids in triacylglycerol. After process optimization during fed-batch fermentation, ABBS26 achieved a final biomass of 147.3 g/L, a DHA production of 47.4 g/L, and a DHA content of 67.6% of total lipids. This work provides a promising approach for the improvement of PUFA-producing thraustochytrid strains and yields strain ABBS26, which exhibits great potential for applications in the food and pharmaceutical fields.
