The invention provides a whole cell catalyst which expresses a recombinant α-dioxygenase or the combination of a recombinant fatty acid reductase and a phosphopantetheinyl transferase phosphopantetheinylating the fatty acid reductase, and which in addition to the α-dioxygenase and/or the combination of fatty acid reductase and phosphopantetheinyl transferase expresses a transaminase, characterized in that the phosphopantetheinyl transferase and/or transaminase is preferably recombinant; and a method for the conversion of a fatty acid, ω-hydroxy fatty acid, ω-oxo fatty acid or a monoester thereof to an amine, comprising oxidation of the fatty acid, ω-hydroxy fatty acid, ω-oxo fatty acid or the monoester thereof to an oxidation product by contacting with an alkane hydroxylase and/or alcohol dehydrogenase, contacting the oxidation product with a phosphopantetheinylated fatty acid reductase or a α-dioxygenase to give an aldehyde, and contacting the aldehyde with a transaminase.

A method of continuously producing 5-aminolevulinic acid employs the photosynthetic bacteria-derived photosynthetic membrane vesicle, succinyl-CoA synthetase, and 5-aminolevulinic acid synthase. The enzymatic synthesis of 5-aminolevulinic acid directly from succinic acid and glycine may be simple, but the synthesis is not inexpensive due to the supply of ATP and CoA, which are relatively expensive reactants. The photosynthetic membrane vesicle is used together with succinyl-CoA synthetase and 5-aminolevulinic acid synthase, thereby enabling the re-use of adenosine diphosphate or CoA in reaction. Accordingly, relatively expensive 5-aminolevulinic acid can be efficiently produced at low manufacturing costs from succinic acid and glycine.

A vanillin is found to be a useful starting material for preparing new monomers that can be further applied to make high Tg composite resins that are in turn useful for making composite parts.

The present invention relates to host cells transformed with a nucleic acid sequence encoding a eukaryotic xylose isomerase obtainable from an anaerobic fungus. When expressed, the sequence encoding the xylose isomerase confers to the host cell the ability to convert xylose to xylulose which may be further metabolized by the host cell. Thus, the host cell is capable of growth on xylose as carbon source. The host cell preferably is a eukaryotic microorganism such as a yeast or a filamentous fungus. The invention further relates to processes for the production of fermentation products such as ethanol, in which a host cell of the invention uses xylose for growth and for the production of the fermentation product. The invention further relates to nucleic acid sequences encoding eukaryotic xylose isomerases and xylulose kinases as obtainable from anaerobic fungi.

Recombinant microorganisms comprising at least one exogenous nucleic acid sequence and capable of producing adipate semialdehyde are provided. Adipate semialdehyde may be produced in a synthesis pathway utilizing a single thiolase reaction. Adipate semialdehyde may also be produced from intermediates consisting of alpha, omega difunctional aliphatic organic molecules. Methods of using recombinant microorganisms to produce 6-aminocaproic acid, adipic acid, hexamethylenediamine and 1.6-hexanediol are also provided.

The invention provides a process for producing ammonia or ammonium from an organic material by fermenting a medium comprising organic material in the presence of a mixed bacterial population capable of ammonification, wherein the fermenting is under conditions, and for a sufficient period of time, to produce a fermentation product that comprises ammonia or ammonium. The organic material includes nitrogenous compounds suitable for conversion to ammonia or ammonium.

The invention provides a process for producing ammonia or ammonium from an organic material by fermenting a medium comprising organic material in the presence of a mixed bacterial population capable of ammonification, wherein the fermenting is under conditions, and for a sufficient period of time, to produce a fermentation product that comprises ammonia or ammonium. The organic material includes nitrogenous compounds suitable for conversion to ammonia or ammonium.

A process for producing alanine, including culturing a cell under aerobic conditions in an aqueous phase in the presence of an inorganic nitrogen source, and then contacting the aqueous phase and the cell cultured in the aqueous phase with a hydrophobic organic phase. The cell is a prokaryotic or a lower eukaryotic cell and expresses a recombinant alanine dehydrogenase.

A mutant lysine decarboxylase produced by replacing at least one of the amino acids in SEQ ID NO:4 with another amino acid.

A mutant lysine decarboxylase produced by replacing at least one of the amino acids in SEQ ID NO:4 with another amino acid.