as lipid accumulation in oleaginous yeast is known to occur during stress conditions in the medium ( Ratledge and Wynn, 2002). When cells begin the depletion of nutrients, such as nitrogen, the excess carbon in the culture medium is converted into cellular lipid ( Ageitos et al., 2011). This pattern is observed in oleaginous yeast and filamentous fungi ( Ratledge and Wynn, 2002). The lipid-accumulating behaviour of JCM 24512 differed from the other 4 strains, suggesting that the lipid-accumulating mechanism of JCM 24512 was less related to the nitrogen concentration. Further investigation is needed to clarify the effect of nitrogen concentration on the lipid-accumulating pattern of this strain.