The invention is directed to BAHD acyltransferase enzymes, nucleic acids encoding BAHD acyltransferase enzymes, and inhibitory nucleic acids adapted to inhibit the expression and/or translation of BAHD acyltransferase RNA; expression cassettes, plant cells, and plants that have or encode such nucleic acids and enzymes; and methods of making and using such nucleic acids, enzymes, expression cassettes, cells, and plants.

Methods for increasing carbon-based chemical product yield in an organism by perturbing redox balance in an organism as well as nonnaturally occurring organisms with perturbed redox balance and methods for their use in producing carbon-based chemical products are provided.

Many biotechnologically relevant organisms cannot utilize cheap and abundant one carbon feedstocks, e.g. CO.sub.2, CO, formaldehyde, methanol, and methane, for growth and instead prefer complex feedstocks such as sugars. Disclosed herein is a system that enables organisms to consume one carbon molecules for growth and maintenance via a formyl-CoA elongation pathway. Utilization of one carbon feedstocks can replace the use of sugar as the primary means of cultivating organisms in biotechnological applications. This has the potential to be more cost effective and avoid the controversial use of food as feedstocks. Intermediates of the formyl-CoA elongation pathway may be also be converted to desired chemical products.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a polyhydroxyalkanoate P(3HB-co-3HHx) comprising 3-hydroxybutanoate and 3-hydroxyhexanoate, the polyhydroxyalkanoate having high melt fluidity and excellent processability.

In order to solve the problems described above, the inventors of the present invention found that with regard to a polyhydroxyalkanoate comprising 3-hydroxybutanoate and 3-hydroxyhexanoate, when the polyhydroxyalkanoate is produced by using microorganisms, and thereby the content of 3-hydroxyhexanoate is increased, a polyhydroxyalkanoate having novel physical properties is obtained. That is, the present invention provides the following polyhydroxyalkanoate, a molded body thereof, and a method for producing the polyhydroxyalkanoate. The polyhydroxyalkanoate of the present invention is a polyhydroxyalkanoate comprising a 3-hydroxybutanoate unit and a 3-hydroxyhexanoate unit, the polyhydroxyalkanoate having a melt flow rate at 160° C. and 2.16 kg/f of 2.5 g/10 minutes or more.

The present invention provides for a polyketide synthase (PKS) capable of synthesizing a 3-hydroxycarboxylic acid or ketone. The present invention also provides for a host cell comprising the PKS and when cultured produces the 3-hydroxycarboxylic acid or ketone.

This invention relates to compositions and methods for the production of Type III polyketides using genetically modified oleaginous yeast strains, for example, Yarrowia lipolytica.

The use of microorganisms to make alpha-functionalized chemicals and fuels, (e.g. alpha-functionalized carboxylic acids, alcohols, hydrocarbons, amines, and their beta-, and omega-functionalized derivatives), by utilizing an iterative carbon chain elongation pathway that uses functionalized extender units. The core enzymes in the pathway include thiolase, dehydrogenase, dehydratase and reductase. Native or engineered thiolases catalyze the condensation of either unsubstituted or functionalized acyl-CoA primers with an alpha-functionalized acetyl-CoA as the extender unit to generate alpha-functionalized β-keto acyl-CoA. Dehydrogenase converts alpha-functionalized β-keto acyl-CoA to alpha-functionalized β-hydroxy acyl-CoA. Dehydratase converts alpha-functionalized β-hydroxy acyl-CoA to alpha-functionalized enoyl-CoA. Reductase converts alpha-functionalized enoyl-CoA to alpha-functionalized acyl-CoA. The platform can be operated in an iterative manner (i.e. multiple turns) by using the resulting alpha-functionalized acyl-CoA as primer and the aforementioned alpha-functionalized extender unit in subsequent turns of the cycle. Termination pathways acting on any of the four alpha-functionalized CoA thioester intermediates terminate the platform and generate various alpha-functionalized carboxylic acids, alcohols and amines with different β-reduction degree.

A non-naturally occurring microbial organism includes a microbial organism having a 1,3-butanediol (1,3-BDO) pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a 1,3-BDO pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce 1,3-BDO. The pathway includes an enzyme selected from a 2-amino-4-ketopentanoate (AKP) thiolase, an AKP dehydrogenase, a 2-amino-4-hydroxypentanoate aminotransferase, a 2-amino-4-hydroxypentanoate oxidoreductase (deaminating), a 2-oxo-4-hydroxypentanoate decarboxylase, a 3-hydroxybutyraldehyde reductase, an AKP aminotransferase, an AKP oxidoreductase (deaminating), a 2,4-dioxopentanoate decarboxylase, a 3-oxobutyraldehyde reductase (ketone reducing), a 3-oxobutyraldehyde reductase (aldehyde reducing), a 4-hydroxy-2-butanone reductase, an AKP decarboxylase, a 4-aminobutan-2-one aminotransferase, a 4-aminobutan-2-one oxidoreductase (deaminating), a 4-aminobutan-2-one ammonia-lyase, a butenone hydratase, an AKP ammonia-lyase, an acetylacrylate decarboxylase, an acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (CoA-dependent, aldehyde forming), an acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (CoA-dependent, alcohol forming), an acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (ketone reducing), a 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA reductase (aldehyde forming), a 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA reductase (alcohol forming), a 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase, and a crotonase. A method for producing 1,3-BDO, includes culturing such microbial organisms under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce 1,3-BDO.

The invention provides polynucleotides and nucleic acid molecules encoding piperine synthases and proteins and enzyme functional for converting piperoyl-CoA and piperidine to piperine. The invention also provides a method of producing an amide from an acyl-CoA and an amine, and to a method of producing an amide from a carboxylic acid and an amine.

Disclosed herein, in some embodiments, are vectors encoding biosynthetic enzymes from gut microbiome-derived bacterium (e.g., Clostridia enzymes), engineered cells comprising the vectors, and methods of using biosynthetic enzymes from gut microbiome-derived bacterium (e.g., Clostridia enzymes) to produce fatty acid amides.