Impedance fingerprint selection of DHA-producing photoautotrophic microalgae

• Unveil biological impedance selection for microalgae with specific characteristics.
• Present cost-effective method for pre-screening DHA-producing microalgae.
• Identify microalgal genus by inspection of Nyquist curves of EIS analysis.

This first-attempt study used biological impedance measurements via electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to screen microalgae with capabilities of specific characteristics (e.g., bioelectricity generation and DHA (all-cis-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid (22: 6n-3)) production). EIS analyses upon microalgal species with identical genus apparently showed similar profiles of Nyquist curves of semi-circles with nearly equal radii. This economically-feasible assessment could be not only sought for bioelectrochemically active microalgae, but also determined whether phylogenetic analysis for species identification is worthy to be implemented afterward. With this screening scheme, Schizochytrium sp. obtained from estuaries were found to be candidate isolates for DHA production. This rapid EIS analysis is also applicable to efficiently select microalgae capable of high-value product generation for practical applications.

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