Quercetin potentiates the concurrent hyper-accumulation of cellular biomass and lipids in Chlorella vulgaris.

•Efficacy of quercetin (Qn) on biomass and lipid was established in C. vulgaris.•Qn potentiates biomass and lipid enhancement despite nitrogen concentration.•Qn improves antioxidant potential of the cells.•Transcriptomic and UPLC-QTOF-MS data uncover the role of Qn in signaling pathway.•Qn hyperaccumulated cellular biomass and lipid by 2.5- and 1.8-fold, respectively.