The invention relates to genetic constructs encoding a compartmenting peptide, wherein expression of the compartmenting peptide leads to formation of a droplet body comprising a targeted biological product, and to vectors including such constructs. The invention also relates to methods of increasing the yield of a biological product in a plant, and to methods for producing a transgenic plant which produces an increased yield of a biological product. The invention also relates to transgenic plants, host cells, plant propagation products and plant parts. The invention also relates to the biological products themselves, produced according to the invention.

The invention provides engineered biosynthetic pathways that can be used to produce cannabinoids from fatty acids, recombinant microorganisms incorporating such pathways, methods of biosynthetically producing cannabinoids from fatty acids, and cannabinoids so produced.

Disclosed herein are microorganism and methods that can be used for the synthesis of cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) and cannabinoids. The methods disclosed can be used to produce CBGA, Δ.sup.9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabichromenic acid (CBGA), Δ.sup.9-tetrahydrocannabivarinic acid (THCVA), cannabidivarinic acid (CBDVA), cannabichromevarinic acid (CBCVA), Δ.sup.9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabichromene (CBC). Enzymes useful for the synthesis of CBGA and cannabinoids, include but are not limited to acyl activating enzyme (AAE1), polyketide synthase (PKS), olivetolic acid cyclase (OAC), prenyltransferase (PT), THCA synthase (THCAS), CBDA synthase (CBDAS), CBC A synthase (CBCAS), HMG-Co reductase (HMG1), and/or famesyl pyrophosphate synthetase (ERG20). The microorganisms can also have one or more genes disrupted, such as gene that that controls beta oxidation of long chain fatty acids.

The disclosure relates to a non-natural flavin-dependent oxidase comprising at least one amino acid variation as compared to a wild type flavin-dependent oxidase, wherein the non-natural flavin-dependent oxidase does not comprise a disulfide bond, and wherein the non-natural flavin-dependent oxidase is capable of oxidative cyclization of a prenylated aromatic compound into a cannabinoid. The disclosure also relates to a nucleic acid, an expression construct, and an engineered cell for making the non-natural flavin-dependent oxidase. Also provided are compositions comprising the non-natural flavin-dependent oxidase; isolated non-natural flavin-dependent oxidase and methods of making the same; cell extracts comprising the non-natural flavin-dependent oxidase; and methods of making cannabinoids.

Provided is a nucleic acid comprising a sequence encoding a prenyltransferase (PT) gene or its complement, codon optimized for production in a microorganism or a plant. Also provided is a yeast expression cassette comprising the above nucleic acid. Additionally provided is a non-naturally occurring prenyltransferase (PT) comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 90% amino acid sequence identity or conservative amino acid substitutions to the amino acid sequences encoded by the above nucleic acid. Further provided is a recombinant microorganism or plant expressing a PT encoded by the above nucleic acid. Additionally provided is a method of catalyzing the condensation of a polyprenol diphosphate and an alkylresorcinol or alkylresorcyclic acid to yield a cannabinoid.

The present invention relates generally to methods and compositions for gene therapy and immunotherapy that activate gamma delta T-cells, and in particular, can be used in the treatment of various cancers and infectious diseases.

This invention relates to the field of genetic engineering. Specifically, the invention relates to the construction of operons to produce biologically active agents. For example, operons may be constructed to produce agents that control the function of biochemical pathway proteins (e.g., protein phosphatases, kinases and/or proteases). Such agents may include inhibitors and modulators that may be used in studying or controlling phosphatase function associated with abnormalities in a phosphatase pathway or expression level. Fusion proteins, such as light activated protein phosphatases, may be genetically encoded and expressed as photoswitchable phosphatases. Systems are provided for use in controlling phosphatase function within living cells or in identifying small molecule inhibitors/activator/modulator molecules of protein phosphatases associated with cell signaling.

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.

Provided is a recombinant yeast expressing germacrene A synthetase or a fusion protein thereof, wherein the fusion protein is germacrene A synthetase and farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase. The recombinant yeast improves the yield of germacrene A, and is suitable for the industrialized production of β-elemene and/or germacrene A.

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.