Described herein are engineered cells including ones having synthetic methylotrophy which include an NADH-dependent enzyme capable of converting G3P to 3PG (e.g., B. methanolicus gapN) and/or fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, along with hexulose-6-phosphate synthase, 6-phospho-3-hexuloisomerase, a phosphoketolase, or a combination thereof. Engineered cells of the disclosure beneficially maintain adequate pool sizes of phosphorylated C3 and/or C4 compounds, and/or provide increased levels of NADPH. As such, the modifications allow for the generation of C6 compounds from C1 (e.g., a methanol feedstod) and C5 compounds, the regeneration of C5 compounds from C6 compounds by carbon rearrangement, and an improved balance between regeneration of C5 compounds and lower glycolysis. In turn, this allows the engineered microorganism to generate sufficient quantities of metabolic precursors (e.g., acetyl-CoA) which can be used in a bioproduct pathway, and the engineered cells can include further modifications to those pathway enzymes allowing for production of a desired bioproduct.

Some aspects of this invention provide engineered microbes for oil production. Methods for microbe engineering and for use of engineered microbes are also provided herein. In some embodiments, microbes provided are engineered to produce oils with low linoleic acids. In some embodiments, microbes provided are engineered to increase the production of lipids by the microbes. In some embodiments, microbes provided are engineered to decrease the viscosity of a liquid culture comprising the microbes. Also disclosed herein are methods of processing, culturing, separating, and extracting products from engineered microbes for oil production.