The present invention relates to Saccharomyces sp. capable of producing lactic acid with a decreased activity of pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) and increased activities of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALD) and acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACS), and a method of producing lactic acid from the culture medium obtained by culturing the microorganism.

A method is provided for making a banana or plantain product comprising providing at least one unpeeled banana or plantain comprising banana or plantain peel and banana or plantain pulp, subjecting the at least one unpeeled banana or plantain to a heat treatment at a temperature and for a time sufficient to gelatinize starch present in the at least one unpeeled banana or plantain to form at least one heat treated unpeeled banana or plantain, and comminuting the at least one heat treated unpeeled banana or plantain to form a banana or plantain puree. A functional food ingredient is also provided comprising a banana or plantain puree including banana or plantain pulp and optionally banana or plantain peel. Foods containing banana or plantain puree or powder are provided, including crackers, snack bars, cereals, smoothies, and cookies.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a medium chain aminocarboxylic acid and, more particularly, to a recombinant microorganism in which a fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase gene in -oxidative metabolic pathway and a -oxidative metabolic pathway-related gene are deleted and a -transaminase gene is introduced, and a method for producing a medium chain aminocarboxylic acid by culturing the recombinant microorganism. The recombinant microorganism of the present invention can prevent additional oxidation of fatty aldehyde and -oxidative metabolism and also produce a medium chain aminocarboxylic acid, such as 12-aminodecane, as a raw material of nylon 12 from a substrate such as fatty acid with a high yield by introducing an amine group into a terminal thereof.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a medium chain diamine and, more specifically, to a method for producing a medium chain diamine from an alcohol or alkane derived from a fatty acid, by culturing a recombinant microorganism from which a fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase gene in a -oxidative metabolic pathway and a -oxidative metabolic pathway related gene have been deleted, and also into which a -transaminase gene has been introduced. The recombinant microorganism disclosed in the present invention can prevent the additional oxidation and -oxidation metabolism of fatty aldehyde and can produce a medium chain diamine with a high yield by introducing an amine group to the terminus thereof.

The present invention provides methods and compositions comprising ALDH2 in the treatment of a patient with toxicity resulting from ALDH2 deficiency. The physiological states that may be treated using the present invention include temporary ALDH2 deficiency, such as that seen by alcohol poisoning or an ischemic event.

Provided herein are recombinant microorganisms that express a subject polypeptide. Microorganisms can comprise an expression construct comprising a flagellin promoter operatively linked with a heterologous nucleotide sequence encoding the subject polypeptide. The flagellin promoter sequence can comprise a genetic modification that reduces CsrA inhibition of translation. Microorganisms also can comprise a genetic modification that reduces FlgM inhibition of SigD initiation of transcription. The target polypeptide can be an aldehyde dehydrogenase. Such microorganisms are useful in the treatment of alcohol hangover.

The present invention relates to the field of yeast fermentations. More particularly, the invention relates to mutant alleles useful to engineer industrially relevant traits in yeast.

Provided herein are methods, compositions, and non-naturally occurring microbial organism for preparing compounds such as1-butanol, butyric acid, succinic acid, 1,4-butanediol, 1-pentanol, pentanoic acid, glutaric acid, 1,5-pentanediol, 1-hexanol, hexanoic acid, adipic acid, 1,6-hexanediol, 6-hydroxy hexanoic acid, ?-Caprolactone, 6-amino-hexanoic acid, ?-Caprolactam, hexamethylenediamine, linear fatty acids and linear fatty alcohols that are between 7-25 carbons long, linear alkanes and linear ?-alkenes that are between 6-24 carbons long, sebacic acid and dodecanedioic acid comprising: a) converting a C.sub.N aldehyde and pyruvate to a C.sub.N+3 ?-hydroxyketone intermediate through an aldol addition; and b) converting the C.sub.N+3 ?-hydroxyketone intermediate to the compounds through enzymatic steps, or a combination of enzymatic and chemical steps.

The invention provides an engineered carboxylic acid reductase (CAR) enzyme, a nucleic acid encoding the CAR enzyme, and a non-naturally occurring microbial organism comprising an exogenous nucleic acid encoding the CAR, an engineered transaminase (TA) enzyme, and/or a hexamethylenediamine (HMD) transaminase (TA2) enzyme. The invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism that has a 1,6-hexanediol (HDO) pathway with a HDO pathway enzyme expressed in sufficient amounts to produce 6 aminocaproate semialdehyde, HDO, or both. The invention further provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism that has an HMD pathway with a HMD pathway enzyme expressed in sufficient amounts to produce 6-aminocaproate semialdehyde, HMD, or both. The invention additionally provides bioderived HMD, 6-aminocaproate semialdehyde, and/or HDO and methods for producing bioderived HMD, 6-aminocaproate semialdehyde, and/or HDO.

The present invention relates to the field of fungal biotechnology, more particularly to genetic engineering methods for the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in fungal hosts selected from Rhodosporidium and Rhodotorula genera. The present invention further relates to a modified fungal host cell having reduced native aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALD 1) enzyme activity, and methods for producing omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and triacylglycerides, by growing said fungal host cell under suitable conditions.