Yeast cells are transformed with an exogenous xylose isomerase gene. Additional genetic modifications enhance the ability of the transformed cells to ferment xylose to ethanol or other desired fermentation products. Those modifications include deletion of non-specific or specific aldose reductase gene(s), deletion of xylitol dehydrogenase gene(s) and/or overexpression of xylulokinase.

The invention relates to a lyase and a lyase-encoding DNA, to vectors containing the DNA and to a method for the asymmetric synthesis of (S)-phenylacetylcarbinol. According to the invention, a lyase is provided, in which tryptophan is replaced with an amino acid at position 543 in protein ApPDC-E469G, said protein being modified with respect to the wild type of Aceobacter pasteurianus, or in which it is less space-filling than tryptophan. According to the invention, deoxyribonucleic acids are furthermore provided, which encode the lyase. (S)-phenylacetylcarbinol can be produced with the lyase according to the invention from the educts benzaldehyde and pyruvate or acetaldehyde with an enantiomeric excess of at least 94%.

Disclosed are a recombinant acid-resistant yeast having improved lactic-acid-producing ability and a method of preparing lactic acid using the same. When producing lactic acid using the recombinant acid-resistant yeast according to the present invention, not only lactic-acid fermentation can be performed with lactic-acid-producing ability similar to that of bacterial fermentation using a remarkably smaller amount of a neutralizing agent than in the case of conventional bacterial fermentation, but also the production of ethanol and glycerol which are byproducts can be reduced. Thus, fermentation costs can be greatly reduced and the cost of subsequent purification processes can be reduced.

Provided herein is a genetically engineered microorganism comprising knock-in of DNA at an acetolactate decarboxylase gene locus. Replacement of the acetolactate decarboxylase gene with DNA encoding one or more native or nonnative enzymes confers certain advantages, including fermentation stability and increased production of native and nonnative products from gaseous substrates.

An ethanologen for producing biofuel from one or more carbohydrates and reducing lactate and acetate production in a biofuel manufacturing process. The ethanologen is made by introducing into the ethanologen one or more exogenous genes required for production of a bacteriocin. The resulting ethanologen reduces lactate and acetate production by contaminant lactic acid bacteria by expression of the bacteriocin during the biofuel manufacturing process. Certain resulting ethanologens ferment sugars not naturally or not preferentially utilized by Saccharomyces cerevisiae during the manufacturing process

Provided herein, among other things, is an engineered non-plant cell that produces a tropane alkaloid product, a precursor of a tropane alkaloid product, or a derivative of a tropane alkaloid product. A method for producing a tropane alkaloid, a precursor of a tropane alkaloid product, or a derivative of a tropane alkaloid product that makes use of the cell is also described.

The present disclosure provides recombinant bacterial cells that have been engineered with genetic circuitry which allow the recombinant bacterial cells to sense a patient's internal environment and respond by turning an engineered metabolic pathway on or off. When turned on, the recombinant bacterial cells complete all of the steps in a metabolic pathway to achieve a therapeutic effect in a host subject. These recombinant bacterial cells are designed to drive therapeutic effects throughout the body of a host from a point of origin of the microbiome. Specifically, the present disclosure provides recombinant bacterial cells comprising a heterologous gene encoding a branched chain amino acid catabolism enzyme. The disclosure further provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising the recombinant bacteria, and methods for treating disorders involving the catabolism of branched chain amino acids using the pharmaceutical compositions disclosed herein.

The present invention relates to a synthetic promoter capable of controlling the expression of a target gene at various locations in the genome of an acid-resistant strain, and more particularly to a synthetic promoter including a core promoter derived from an acid-resistant strain and an upstream activating sequence (UAS) element serving as an enhancer. When the present invention is applied to a variety of genetic and metabolic engineering techniques for acid-resistant yeast, various metabolic networks can be configured as desired while controlling the expression level of the target gene, so a method of producing various metabolites using acid-resistant yeast is provided, and the cost of producing the metabolites can be greatly reduced depending on the properties of the acid-resistant yeast.

Provided herein is a genetically engineered microorganism comprising knock-in of DNA at an acetolactate decarboxylase gene locus. Replacement of the acetolactate decarboxylase gene with DNA encoding one or more native or nonnative enzymes confers certain advantages, including fermentation stability and increased production of native and nonnative products from gaseous substrates.

The invention provides non-naturally occurring microbial organisms containing a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid pathway, wherein the microbial organisms selectively produce a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid of a specified length. Also provided are non-naturally occurring microbial organisms having a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid pathway, wherein the microbial organisms further include an acetyl-CoA pathway. In some aspects, the microbial organisms of the invention have select gene disruptions or enzyme attenuations that increase production of fatty alcohols, fatty aldehydes or fatty acids. The invention additionally provides methods of using the above microbial organisms to produce a fatty alcohol, a fatty aldehyde or a fatty acid.