Strain and culture conditions
Sphingomonas sp. ZUTE03, which exhibits significant ability to produce CoQ10,
was isolated from soil collected from the banks of the Qiantang River, Zhejiang
Province, China. The strain was deposited at China Center for Type Culture Collection
(CCTCC) under the accession number CCTCC M207084. Cell cultures were
maintained as slants at 4 ◦C for routine use and stocked in glycerol tubes at −80 ◦C.
The seed medium contained 20 g/L glucose, 10 g/L peptone, 10 g/L yeast extract,
and 5 g/L NaCl. Its initial pH was adjusted to 7.0 with 2 M NaOH. The prepared
medium was then transferred into 250 or 500 mL Erlenmeyer flasks and autoclaved
at 115 ◦C for 30 min. All experimental cultures were incubated at 180 rpm and 28 ◦C.