To develop a potent strain for the production of coenzyme $Q_{10}$, a photosynthetic bacterium was isolated from silt of the Nakdong River in Korea. Using l6S-rDNA sequence analysis, the isolated strain was identified as Rhodobacter sphaeroides. A stable improvement in its $CoQ_{10}$ content was achieved by chemical mutation, upon which the content of $CoQ_{10}$(2.94 mg/g dry cell) was increased by approximately 1.9-fold, comparable to that of R. sphaeroides reported in other studies. The isolate is a potentially valuable microorganism for mass production of $CoQ_{10}$, and may provide an appropriate model for further study of economical mass production.