Whole Genome Sequencing de novo Assemble of Starmerella riodocensis GT-2564R Strain toward understanding sophorolipid production

Sophorolipids (SLs) are glycolipid biosurfactants produced from a variety of non-pathogenic yeasts; they possess advantageous properties and have good applications in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and agricultural industries, among others. To be adequate to fulfill the requirements, it is necessary to investigate the mechanisms within yeast cells that are crucial to the production process to enhance the yeast's ability to produce more SLs biosurfactant. We have recently identified a novel gene cluster (CYP52M1, UGTA1, UGTB1, SLAT, and SBLE) in the whole genome sequence of Starmerella riodocensis GT-2564R isolated from honey in Bee Park, Ratchaburi province, Thailand. The contig assembly was performed using a k-mer count distribution of 22 contigs, the total contig bases were 9 MB bp, and an estimated genome size of approximately 11.4 MB bp with N50 values of approximately 2.2 MB bp was obtained. The approximate percentage of G+C content is 48%. The identification of 3,958 genes that could be classified into gene groups led to the discovery of a gene cluster related to Sophorolipid biosurfactant, which revealed a 69% similarity with S. bombicola amino acid sequences in the GenBank database (NCBI-BLAST). Suggestion, our findings will increase the potential for future increases in yield, productivity, and industrial applications.