Precision phenotyping for microalgae: advancing biomolecule production and ecosystem restoration

Throughout human history, selecting crops with desirable traits has been crucial for our agricultural success.

However, the precise selection and investigation of microalgae, vital for bioenergy, food, and ecosystem health, remains challenging.

This hampers efforts to improve microalgae-based feedstock production and understand their role in ecosystems under future climate impacts.

To overcome these obstacles, this proposal integrates single-cell microfluidics, high-content imaging, and single-cell lipidomics, and applies them in two cutting-edge experiments relevant to bioproduction and ecology.

Central to both experiments is the examination of individual microalgae via high-content imaging under laboratory-engineered environments, followed by their targeted selection and lipidomic investigation.

The central hypothesis is that traits observed via high-content imaging reflect the lipid content of individual cells, and that their targeted selection under elevated temperatures results in populations with enhanced thermal tolerance.

Testing this hypothesis holds the promise to transform our ability to phenotype microscopic plants at a precision and speed that surpasses existing technologies and to utilize them for improved bioproduction and targeted ecosystem restoration efforts.