The present invention relates to compositions and methods of producing carotenoids and carotenoid derivatives.

The invention provides a method for producing an isoprenoid 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 an isoprenoid or a precursor thereof, such as mevalonic acid, isopentenyl pyrophosphate, dimethylallyl pyrophosphate, isoprene, geranyl pyrophosphate, farnesyl pyrophosphate, and/or pinene. The bacterium may comprise one or more exogenous enzymes, such as enzymes in mevalonate, DXS, isoprenoid alcohol, or terpene biosynthesis pathways.

The present disclosure provides methods and compositions for producing rotundone. In various aspects, the present disclosure provides enzymes, polynucleotides encoding said enzymes, and recombinant microbial host cells (or microbial host strains) for the production of rotundone. In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides microbial host cells for producing rotundone at high purity and/or yield, from either enzymatic transformation of -guaiene, or from sugar or other carbon source. The present disclosure further provides methods of making products containing rotundone, including flavor or fragrance products, among others.

The present invention provides a method of producing a carotenoid having 50 carbon atoms which comprises culturing, in a medium, a cell transformed with a mutant phytoene desaturase gene and obtaining the carotenoid having 50 carbon atoms from the culture. The mutant phytoene desaturase gene has an introduced mutation to encode a mutant phytoene desaturase having an enhanced activity to desaturate a carotenoid backbone compound of 50 carbon atoms.

The present invention relates to a recombinant Deinococcus bacterium exhibiting enhanced 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate/1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (MEP/DXP) pathway, and its use for producing terpene or terpenoid compounds.

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 -elemene and/or germacrene A.

The present invention provides a method of producing a carotenoid having 50 carbon atoms which comprises culturing, in a medium, a cell transformed with a mutant phytoene desaturase gene and obtaining the carotenoid having 50 carbon atoms from the culture. The mutant phytoene desaturase gene has an introduced mutation to encode a mutant phytoene desaturase having an enhanced activity to desaturate a carotenoid backbone compound of 50 carbon atoms.

Provided herein are enzymes, cells, and methods to optimize the production of cannabinoids in micro-organisms.

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.

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.