초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>The aim of this work was to develop a new approach for simple and high-throughput selection of astaxanthin-hyperproducing <I>Haematococcus</I> mutants through a sequential combination method of azide-based colorimetric assessment and oil-based astaxanthin quantification. Randomly mutagenized cells were spotted on solid culture medium containing 50 µM of sodium azide to accelerate the biosynthesis of astaxanthin. After 3 days, highly-induced mutants were preliminarily isolated by visual inspection and their astaxanthin accumulations were rapidly quantified by soybean oil-based extraction method. On the whole, the selected mutants showed reduced vegetative growth rates but eventually exhibited higher astaxanthin productions than the parental strain owing to their improved inductive growths. Among them, M13 showed 174.7 ± 5.69 mg L<SUP>−1</SUP> of the highest astaxanthin production, which is 1.59-times higher than that of wild-type. This wide-scope screening method expedites both upstream and downstream astaxanthin quantification, making it a useful tool for isolating microalgae with high astaxanthin production.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> NaN<SUB>3</SUB> was used for colorimetric selection of highly inducible <I>H. pluvialis</I> mutants. </LI> <LI> Soybean oil was used for rapid extraction and analysis of astaxanthin in the cells. </LI> <LI> 88.5% of the selected mutants showed improved astaxanthin productions. </LI> <LI> A selected mutant, M13, produced 174.7 mg L<SUP>−1</SUP> of astaxanthin in a 5 L PBR. </LI> <LI> Astaxanthin titer of the mutant increased 59% compared to that of the wild type. </LI> </UL> </P>