{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T15:52:15Z","timestamp":1753890735067,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,24]],"date-time":"2023-10-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1698105600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol."],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Introduction:<\/jats:bold> New bioresources for catalytic application and fine chemical synthesis are the need of the hour. In an effort to find out new biocatalyst for oxidation-reduction reaction, leading to the synthesis of chiral intermediates, novel yeast were isolated from unique niche and employed for the synthesis of value added compounds.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold> To determine the genetic relatedness of the isolated strain, HSB-15<jats:sup>T<\/jats:sup>, sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and D1\/D2 domains of the 26S rRNA gene sequence was carried out. The distinctive features of the strain HSB-15<jats:sup>T<\/jats:sup> were also identified by phenotypic characterization. The isolated strain HSB-15<jats:sup>T<\/jats:sup> was employed for the reduction of selected naphthyl ketones to their corresponding alcohols and a biosurfactant was isolated from its culture broth.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold> The analysis of the ITS and D1\/D2 domains of the 26S rRNA gene revealed that strain HSB-15<jats:sup>T<\/jats:sup> is closely related to the type strain of <jats:italic>Starmerella vitae<\/jats:italic> (CBS 15147<jats:sup>T<\/jats:sup>) with 96.3% and 97.7% sequence similarity, respectively. However, concatenated sequences of the ITS gene and D1\/D2 domain showed 94.6% sequence similarity. Phenotypic characterization indicated significant differences between strain HSB-15<jats:sup>T<\/jats:sup> and its closely related species and consequently, it was identified as a novel species, leading to the proposal of the name <jats:italic>Starmerella cerana<\/jats:italic> sp. nov. The strain was able to reduce selected naphthyl ketones to their corresponding alcohols with remarkable efficiency, within a 12-hours. The strain HSB-15T also produced a surfactant in its culture broth, identified as sophorolipid upon analysis.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Discussion:<\/jats:bold> The study explored the potential of the novel strain, HSB-15T, as a whole-cell biocatalyst for the reduction of naphthyl ketones to their corresponding alcohols and also reports its capability to produce sophorolipid, a biosurfactant, in its culture broth. This dual functionality of HSB-15T both as biocatalyst and biosurfactant producer enhances its applicability in biotechnology and environmental science.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fbioe.2023.1264826","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,25]],"date-time":"2023-10-25T06:13:00Z","timestamp":1698214380000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Harnessing dual applications of a novel ascomycetes yeast, Starmerella cerana sp. nov., as a biocatalyst for stereoselective ketone reduction and biosurfactant production"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Sachin","family":"Kumar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nitish Kumar","family":"Verma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sandal Deep","family":"Basotra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Divya","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"G. 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