Make microalgal cultures axenic again – a fast and simple workflow utilizing fluorescence-activated cell sorting

Since the removal of contaminations in microalgal cultures is extremely laborious and time-consuming, we developed a rapid workflow to obtain axenicity by a combination of fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and plate spreading. During method development, several cyanobacteria and green algae strains were successfully made axenic. At the end, method transferability to another FACS device was demonstrated. Our workflow offers great time-savings with less hands-on laboratory work compared to conventional isolation techniques. •A new, fast and simple workflow to obtain axenic microalgae cultures.•Combination of FACS and plate spreading for isolation.•Time and labor reduction to obtain axenic culture.