title: New method for discovery of starch phenotypes in growing microalgal colonies.
abstract: To identify algal strains with altered starch metabolism from a large pool of candidates of growing algal colonies, we have developed a novel, high-throughput screening tool by combining gaseous bleaching of replica transferred colonies and subsequent iodine staining to visualize starch. Screening of healthy growing colonies of microalgae has not been possible previously because high levels of chlorophyll make the detection of starch with an iodine stain impossible. We demonstrated that chlorine dioxide (ClO(2)) removes essentially all chlorophyll from the colonies and enables high-throughput screening of, for example, a population of mutagenized cells or a culture collection isolated in a bioprospecting project.
authors.affiliation: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
authors.forename: Stuart K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: Sharon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Smolinski
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feehan
authors.forename: Philip T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Pienkos
authors.forename: Eric E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Jarvis
authors.forename: Lieve M L
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Laurens
mesh_terms: D017606:Chlorine Compounds / Q000032:analysis; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods*; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays / Q000379:methods*; D058086:Microalgae / Q000378:metabolism; D010087:Oxides / Q000032:analysis; D013213:Starch / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017606:Chlorine Compounds; D005740:Gases; D010087:Oxides; D002734:Chlorophyll; C025109:chlorine dioxide; D013213:Starch