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Significance Lignin is the only renewable and abundant polymer on the earth with aromatic units as its building blocks; however, it remains as an untapped resource. The current approach to making the biofuel industry cost competitive with the petroleum industry is to derive more value from the lignin. In this study we combined the unique approaches of both chemical engineering and biology to gain a deeper understanding of the metabolism of a soil bacterium, Sphingobium sp. SYK-6, that enables it to survive on lignin-derived monomers and oligomers. Understanding the central metabolism of SYK-6 will enable researchers to redesign the metabolicmore » pathways of Sphingobium sp. SYK-6 more effectively to provide a renewable route for the production of products currently sourced from petrochemicals.« less