Laboratory Screening Protocol to Identify Novel Oleaginous Yeasts.

Oleaginous microbes, which contain over 20% intracellular lipid, predominantly triacylglycerols (TG), by dry weight, have been discovered to have high oil content by many different protocols, ranging from simple staining to more complex chromatographic methods. In our laboratory, a methodical process was implemented to identify high oil yeasts, designed to minimize labor while optimizing success in identifying high oil strains among thousands of candidates. First, criteria were developed to select candidate yeast strains for analysis.