AimsMethane and methanol are potential carbon sources of industrial micro-organisms in addition to crop-derived bio-carbon sources. Methanotrophs that can utilize these simple, stable and large amounts chemicals are expected to be developed into cell factories' for the production of specific chemicals. In this study, a methanotroph that can synthesize lycopene, C-30 carotenoid and exopolysaccharides (EPS) with relative better performances from C1 substrates was isolated, and its performances were evaluated. Methods and ResultsThe isolated strain was identified as Methylomonas sp. ZR1 based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Its maximum specific growth rate achieved 0200h(-1) under flask culture conditions, and 0386h(-1) in bubble column reactors. ZR1 was able to utilize 35gl(-1) of methanol and even exhibited slight growth in the presence of 40gl(-1) of methanol. Furthermore, ZR1 was proved to synthesize lycopene (C-40 carotenoids) besides the C-30 carotenoids through HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS/MS analysis methods. Its carotenoid extracts exhibited excellent antioxidative activities measured by the ABTS(+) method. Plenty of polysaccharides were also synthesized by ZR1, the components of the polysaccharides were identified as glucose, mannose and galactose with a proportion of 1:2:1 by GC-MS, and its yield achieved 013gg(-1) cell dry weight. ConclusionsThe isolated strain has great potential for the production of value-added bioproducts from C1 compounds because of its excellent C1 substrate utilizing abilities and its abilities to naturally synthesize lycopene, C-30 carotenoids and EPS. Significance and Impact of the StudyIn this study, we isolated a fast-growing methanotroph, its C1 carbon substrate utilizing ability is excellent in comparison with reported methanotrophs. Furthermore, besides polysaccharides and C-30 carotenoids which were commonly synthesized by methanotrophs, our findings suggested that C-40 lycopene could also be naturally synthesized from methane by methanotrophs.