Figure 1.

Isolation of the Pb8C12 mutant in a genetic screen for TAG homeostasis. A, Cultivation conditions used for the genetic screen. B, TAG quantification. C, Lipid droplet imaging. Cells were cultivated until midlog phase photoautotrophically in the air with a supply of 2% CO₂, then starved for N for 2 d, followed by N resupply. Cells were harvested at each stage for analysis of TAGs as well as for imaging. Data are means of four biological replicates, and error bars represent sd. Asterisks indicate significant differences from the wild-type strain dw15 using paired-sample Student’s t test (*, P ≤ 0.05 and **, P ≤ 0.01). Lipid droplets were stained with BODIPY. Pseudocolors were used: chlorophyll in red and lipid droplet in green. MM, Minimal medium.