I am struggling to find a method to assess the suitability of various carbon sources due to the fact that the carbon sources I am dealing with are quite thick and not clear. I have thought of using dyes (e.g. tetrasodium chloride) but it is possible that the colour of the carbon source will affect the colouration of the culture. I have tried using a spectrophotometer but every carbon source that I test has different thickness and colour and makes the OD measurements not comparable. I have tried cell and colony counts but the results arent very accurate..
Any suggestions?
Chlorophyll estimation may be helpful for this kind of cultures using micro syringe filters
Karthikeyan Panneerselvam Thank you for your answer Karthikeyan. I forgot to add that the microalgae are grown heterotrophically.. and this means that their chlorophyll levels are rather low.
Any other ideas?
I recommend remove all suspended solids from your carbon sources (centrifugation, filtration, .....) before cultivation and then use conventional gravimetric determination of biomass dry matter (centrifugation, washing).
Best regards
Vit
You could centrifuge the cells from the growth medium. Then re-suspend with a clearer isotonic liquid with a little iodine (to kill the algae and make them more visible). Then do cell counts.
Incubate the culture in 20 to 40 µM Fluorescein diacetate (FDA) for 30 to 60 minutes, then centrifuge the culture and read the absorbance at 490 nm in spectrophotometer. The fluorescein intensity is equal to live algal biomass.
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