The invention provides a
mutant chlorella strain capable of realizing high yield of zeaxanthine and other carotenoids essential to the
human body, and a culturing method thereof. The culturing method comprises the following steps: subjecting
Chlorella zofingiensis ATCC 30412 to nitrosoguanidine
mutagenesis; then
coating a Kuhl
solid medium containing DPA with treated
chlorella cells for culture; selecting a single
chlorella colony from the Kuhl
solid medium and culturing the single chlorella colony on a Kuhl
liquid medium; adding glucose in the middle and later periods of logarithm for induction of
carotenoid synthesis; and detecting the variety changes and content of carotenoids in the obtained chlorella body so as to obtain the strain which can realize high yield of zeaxanthine,
xanthophyll and beta-
carotene and is named as CZ-ZEA1. Under the induction condition that the concentration of glucose is 30 g / L, the
biomass of the CZ-ZEA1 is 12.95 g / L, and the contents of zeaxanthine,
xanthophyll and beta-
carotene reach 2.176 mg / g, 1.10 mg / g and 1.211 mg / g, respecitively. The
mutant chlorella strain is an edible alga species and contains high-content optimally-proportioned carotenoids essential to the
human body, especially zeaxanthine rare in nature; so the
mutant chlorella strain is an ideal new-resource functional foodstuff for preventing deterioration and
lesion of the eyes of middle aged and old people and has good development and application prospects.