A method of enhancement of the 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase (DXS) activity of plants or bacteria to increase terpenes production in cells, an enhanced DXS sequence likely to be obtained by this method, a method of enhancement of production of terpenes in a host cell containing the enhanced DXS enzyme, and transgenic bacterium or plants that express this polypeptide are described.

The invention provides a method for producing a terpene or a precursor thereof by microbial fermentation. Typically, the method involves culturing a recombinant bacterium in the presence of a gaseous substrate whereby the bacterium produces a terpene or a precursor thereof, such as mevalonic acid, isopentenyl pyrophosphate, dimethylallyl pyrophosphate, isoprene, geranyl pyrophosphate, farnesyl pyrophosphate, and/or farnesene. The bacterium may comprise one or more exogenous enzymes, such as enzymes in mevalonate, DXS, or terpene biosynthesis pathways.