Selection of oleaginous yeasts with high lipid productivity for practical biodiesel production

•The lipid-producing ability of 500 newly isolated yeast strains was evaluated.•Lipid content, fatty acid composition, lipid productivity, and biomass were examined.•The yeast Cryptococcus musci was capable of the highest lipid productivity.

The lipid-accumulating ability of 500 yeast strains isolated in Japan was evaluated. Primary screening revealed that 31 strains were identified as potential lipid producers, from which 12 strains were cultivated in a medium containing 3% glucose. It was found that JCM 24511 accumulated the highest lipid content, up to 61.53%, while JCM 24512 grew the fastest. They were tentatively identified as Cryptococcus sp. and Cryptococcus musci, respectively. The maximum lipid concentration of 1.49 g/L was achieved by JCM 24512. Similarly, JCM 24511 also achieved a high lipid production of 1.37 g/L. High lipid productivity is the most important characteristic of oleaginous yeasts from the viewpoint of practical production. Among the strains tested here, JCM 24512 had the best lipid productivity, 0.37 g/L/day. The results show that the isolated yeasts could be promising candidates for biodiesel production.