The invention relates to engineering of acetyl-CoA metabolism in yeast and in particular to production of acetyl-CoA in a non-ethanol producing yeast lacking endogenous gene(s) encoding pyruvate decarboxylase and comprising a heterologous pathway for synthesis of cytosolic acetyl-CoA.

Provided is a method for producing a methacrylic acid ester using a biocatalyst, said method comprising a step for treating methacrylyl-CoA with an alcohol or phenol in the presence of an alcohol acyltransferase to synthesize the methacrylic acid ester. According to this production method, a methacrylic acid ester can be efficiently produced while largely reducing energy, resource and environmental load, compared with the conventional chemical production processes.

The present invention relates to a process for producing ethyl esters of polyunsaturated fatty acids, comprising transesterifying triacylglycerols in extracted plant lipid.

A bacterium of the species Corynebacterium glutamicum has the ability to excrete L-lysine, and contains in its chromosome a polynucleotide encoding a mutated polypeptide having the assumed function of an acyltransferase, hydrolase, alpha/beta hydrolase or of a pimeloyl-ACP methyl ester esterase. Also, a method is used for producing L-lysine using such bacterium.

The invention relates to a 2-isopropyl malate synthase, a genetically engineered bacterium for producing L-leucine and application thereof and belongs to the field of metabolic engineering. The genetically engineered bacterium is obtained by overexpressing an isopropyl malate synthase coding gene leuA.sup.M for relieving feedback inhibition by L-leucine, an acetohydroxy acid synthase coding gene ilvBN.sup.M for relieving feedback inhibition by L-isoleucine, a 3-isopropyl malate dehydrogenase coding gene leuB and a 3-isopropyl malate dehydratase coding gene leuCD in host cells. The genetically engineered bacterium for producing the L-leucine is free from nutritional deficiency, rapid in growth, short in fermentation period, high in yield and high in conversion rate.

This invention relates to metabolically engineered microorganisms, such as bacterial and or fungal strains, and bioprocesses utilizing such strums. These strains enable the dynamic control of metabolic pathways, which can be used to optimize production. Dynamic control over metabolism is accomplished via a combination of methodologies including but not limited to transcriptional silencing and controlled enzyme proteolysis. These microbial strains are utilized in a multi-stage bioprocess encompassing at least two stages, the first stage in which microorganisms are grown and metabolism can be optimized for microbial growth and at least one other stage in which growth can be slowed or stopped, and dynamic changes can be made to metabolism to improve the production of desired product, such as a chemical or fuel.

The invention features compositions and methods for the increased production of mevalonate, isoprene, isoprenoid precursor molecules, isoprenoids, and/or acetyl-CoA-derived products in recombinant microorganisms by engineering the microorganisms to comprise one or more acetylating proteins such that the expression and/or activity of the one or more acetylating proteins is modulated.

Nucleic acid molecules encoding polypeptides having polyketide synthase activity have been identified and characterized. Expression or over-expression of the nucleic acids alters levels of cannabinoid compounds in organisms. The polypeptides may be used in vivo or in vitro to produce cannabinoid compounds.

The present disclosure provides compositions and methods for rapid production of chemicals in genetically engineered microorganisms in a large scale. Also provided herein is a high-throughput metabolic engineering platform enabling the rapid optimization of microbial production strains. The platform, which bridges a gap between current in vivo and in vitro bio-production approaches, relies on dynamic minimization of the active metabolic network.

The present invention provides polynucleotide vectors for high expression of heterologous genes. Some vectors further comprise novel transposons and transposases that further improve expression. Further disclosed are vectors that can be used in a gene transfer system for stably introducing nucleic acids into the DNA of a cell. The gene transfer systems can be used in methods, for example, gene expression, bioprocessing, gene therapy, insertional mutagenesis, or gene discovery