Sphingomonas arvum sp. nov.: A promising microbial chassis for high-yield and sustainable zeaxanthin biomanufacturing

The yield of natural products from plants is currently insufficient and cannot be considered a sustainable and secure source of supply, especially given the challenges posed by global climate change. Therefore, a biofoundry that can quickly and accurately produce desired materials from microorganisms based on synthetic biology is urgently needed. Moreover, it is important to find new microbial and genetic chassis to meet the rapidly growing global market for high-value-added zeaxanthin. In this study, we aimed to identify the zeaxanthin biosynthetic gene cluster, crtZ-crtB-crtI-crtY, and confirm zeaxanthin production (11,330 μg g⁻¹ dry biomass weight) through genome mining and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry profiling using the novel zeaxanthin-producing bacteria Sphingomonas sp. strain BN140010^T isolated from the subsurface soil of arable land. We report the highest yield among zeaxanthin-producing Sphingomonas strains to date. Moreover, we determined the taxonomic position of BN140010^T using a polyphasic approach based on phylogenetic, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics, and we proposed Sphingomonas arvum strain BN140010^T as a novel strain. Our results provide a zeaxanthin-producing chassis and diverse genetic tools for microbiological zeaxanthin production. Therefore, this research advances our progress towards the goal of lowering the unit cost of zeaxanthin production, making it more accessible for industrial applications.