Isolation of the Oleaginous Yeasts from the Soil and Studies of Their Lipid-Producing Capacities 

Li-Xia Pan^1,2, Deng-Feng Yang², Li Shao1, Wei Li¹, Gui-Guang Chen¹ and Zhi-Qun Liang¹*

¹College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, CN-530004 Nanning, PR China
²Guangxi Academy of Sciences, CN-530003 Nanning, PR China

Article history:
Received January 12, 2008
Accepted May 7, 2008

Key words:
isolation and identification of oleaginous yeast, xylose, glycerol, biodiesel, cocoa butter substitute

Summary:
D-xylose is one of the most abundant pentose sugars in nature. To isolate oleaginous yeasts that can utilize xylose from diverse soil samples, soils from a litchi orchard, longan orchard, carambola orchard, and woods were collected, yeasts were isolated by the glycerol enrichment and their xylose-assimilating capacities were measured. A subset of these isolates was grown in nitrogen-limited media and then screened for potential oleaginous yeasts by the Sudan Black B staining, after which their lipid-producing capacities were studied. There were 13 strains of oleaginous yeasts identified, and a rapid microbiological assay was provided to exploit microbial lipids that may one day be used as biodiesels or cocoa butter substitute.

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