The disclosure relates to omega-hydroxylated fatty acid derivatives and methods of producing them. Herein, the disclosure encompasses a novel and environmentally friendly production method that provides omega-hydroxylated fatty acid derivatives at high purity and yield. Further encompassed are recombinant microorganisms that produce omega-hydroxylated fatty acid derivatives through selective fermentation.

A detergent composition, preferably a manual dishwashing detergent composition, including one or more diol synthases capable of converting one or more unsaturated fatty acids into one or more oxylipins, and a surfactant system including one or more anionic surfactants and one or more co-surfactants selected from the group consisting of amphoteric surfactant, zwitterionic surfactant, and mixtures thereof. Method of using the detergent composition including a surfactant system and the diol synthases are also provided.

A method for oxidizing an alkyl, including a) contacting the alkyl with an aqueous solution comprising a microorganism where the microorganism has a reduced fatty acid degradation capacity compared to its wild type, wherein the fatty acid degradation capacity is reduced by deletion, inhibition or inactivation of a gene encoding an enzyme involved in the -oxidation pathway; and the microorganism expresses a recombinant alkane oxidase, and b) contacting the aqueous solution from a) with a water-immiscible organic solvent.

This invention relates to modified hydroxylases. The invention further relates to cells expressing such modified hydroxylases and methods of producing hydroxylated alkanes by contacting a suitable substrate with such cells.

An engineered microorganism(s) with novel pathways for the conversion of short-chain hydrocarbons to fuels and chemicals (e.g. carboxylic acids, alcohols, hydrocarbons, and their alpha-, beta-, and omega-functionalized derivatives) is described. Key to this approach is the use of hydrocarbon activation enzymes able to overcome the high stability and low reactivity of hydrocarbon compounds through the cleavage of an inert CH bond. Oxygen-dependent or oxygen-independent activation enzymes can be exploited for this purpose, which when combined with appropriate pathways for the conversion of activated hydrocarbons to key metabolic intermediates, enables the generation of product precursors that can subsequently be converted to desired compounds through established pathways. These novel engineered microorganism(s) provide a route for the production of fuels and chemicals from short chain hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane, propane, butane, and pentane.

This invention relates to modified hydroxylases. The invention further relates to cells expressing such modified hydroxylases and methods of producing hydroxylated alkanes by contacting a suitable substrate with such cells.

An engineered microorganism(s) with novel pathways for the conversion of short-chain hydrocarbons to fuels and chemicals (e.g. carboxylic acids, alcohols, hydrocarbons, and their alpha-, beta-, and omega-functionalized derivatives) is described. Key to this approach is the use of hydrocarbon activation enzymes able to overcome the high stability and low reactivity of hydrocarbon compounds through the cleavage of an inert CH bond. Oxygen-dependent or oxygen-independent activation enzymes can be exploited for this purpose, which when combined with appropriate pathways for the conversion of activated hydrocarbons to key metabolic intermediates, enables the generation of product precursors that can subsequently be converted to desired compounds through established pathways. These novel engineered microorganism(s) provide a route for the production of fuels and chemicals from short chain hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane, propane, butane, and pentane.

The invention relates to a process for preparing an ,-alkanediol comprising the steps of a) reacting an alkanoic acid with an alkanol to give an ester, b) oxidizing at least one terminal carbon atom of the ester by contacting with a whole-cell catalyst, which expresses an alkane hydroxylase, in aqueous solution and in the presence of molecular oxygen, to give an oxidized ester, c) hydrogenating the oxidized ester to form the alkanediol and alkanol, and d) removing the alkanol by distillation, forming a reaction mixture depleted with respect to the alkanol, and recycling the alkanol in step b).

A method of enhanced oil recovery that includes water-flooding an oil reservoir with an alkaline fluid or a fluid containing a compound toxic to indigenous microbes and inoculating the oil reservoir with a consortium comprising microbes that naturally are, or are engineered to be, obligatory alkaphilic, halo-alkaphilic or alkaline tolerant, and naturally are, or are engineered to be, deficient in their ability to utilize short chain hydrocarbons of 12 carbons or less but have the ability to convert hydrocarbons into fatty acids.

Provided is a method of activating gene expression using a protein having 90% or more sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:45. The protein activates the expression of a gene upon induction with a medium-chain or long-chain alkane or a medium-chain or long-chain fatty acid methyl ester. Also provided is a whole-cell catalytic system regulated by a medium-chain or long-chain alkane or a medium-chain or long-chain fatty acid methyl ester. The system includes a recombinant microbial cell expressing the protein and an alkane monooxygenase. Also provided is a method of preparing a medium-chain or long-chain alkane terminal oxidation product using the whole-cell catalytic system.