The roles of starch and lipid in Chlorella sp. during cell recovery from nitrogen starvation

[Display omitted] •Responses of starch and lipid in Chlorella sp. to N-resupply was analyzed.•Growth recovery was completed within 2days even from long starvation.•Starch was immediately degraded to provide carbon and energy for cell recovery.•Lipid tended to have a structural role rather than an energy storage function. The influence of N-replenishment on cell growth, chlorophyll content, nitrogen uptake, and accumulation of starch and lipid was studied in Chlorella sp. N-starved algal cells were fully recovered within 2days after N-replenishment. Stored starch in N-deficient culture was degraded immediately during recovery process. However, lipid response had a period of delay when suffered from long starvation. During the recovery process, neutral lipid was reduced accompanied by an increase in membrane lipid. It was speculated that starch served as a source of carbon and energy catabolized to support quick recovery of the culture, while lipid preferred to play a structural role that specific fatty acid species were released from storage lipid and as building blocks for quick synthesis of membrane lipid. In light of rapid growth recovery and no net degradation in total fatty acids, a semi-continuous cultivation process might be a potential way to enhance lipid productivity.