A Simple and Rapid Dual-fluorescence Viability Assay for Microalgae

Abstract

A dual-fluorescence method was developed to assay the viability of microalgae and was tested in five strains of cyanobacteria and a green algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Fluorescence of SYTOX Green, a dye that only penetrates damaged cell membranes, and autofluorescence were observed simultaneously, allowing the discrimination of live and dead cells. We found good correlation in five of six strains between the real percentage of live microalgae in the samples and that measured by the double-fluorescence method. We conclude that our method provides a simple and rapid technique for assessing the viability of microalgae.