Morphology, phylogeny and lipid components of an oil-rich microalgal strain

Abstract

Microalgae have attracted much more attentions for their roles in biofuel exploration recently. In this report, one oil-rich microalgal strain (TY02) was isolated from the lawn soil in a park, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, and the morphology and phylogeny characters of the strain was systematically analyzed. Observed by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and fluorescent microscopy, the lipid bodies were observed clearly. After extracting the total lipid by chloroform-methanol method, the fatty acid content and composition of the lipid bodies in the strain were detected and analyzed through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results demonstrated that the total lipid content of TY02 was 33.27 ± 1.13%, among the total 7 kinds of fatty acids identified in TY02, the major constituents are C16 and C18 fatty acids, which taking up to 88.15%. Moreover, the predominant fatty acids were Hexadecanoic acid (C16: 0), 9, 12-Octadecadienoic acid (C18: 2) and 9, 12, 15-Octade mcatrienoic acid (C18: 3). Based on the molecular markers of 18S rDNA, rbcL and ITS genes, phylogenetic trees and ITS2 secondary structure analysis all showed that the strain closed to Parachlorella kessleri. All results might bring a new look  that some  microalgae with  potential values can be a raw biodiesel material.