Provided is a cyanobacterium with improved productivity of fatty acid. A method for producing a modified cyanobacterium, comprising causing loss of functions of an AbrB-like transcriptional regulator and acyl-ACP synthetase in a cyanobacterium.

Disclosed herein are microorganisms containing exogenous or heterologous nucleic acid sequences, wherein the microorganisms are capable of growing on gaseous carbon dioxide, gaseous hydrogen, syngas, or combinations thereof. In some embodiments the microorganisms are chemotrophic bacteria that produce or secrete at least 10% of lipid by weight. Also disclosed are methods of fixing gaseous carbon into organic carbon molecules useful for industrial processes. Also disclosed are methods of manufacturing chemicals or producing precursors to chemicals useful in jet fuel, diesel fuel, and biodiesel fuel. Exemplary chemicals or precursors to chemicals useful in fuel production are alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, fatty acid alcohols, fatty acid aldehydes, desaturated hydrocarbons, unsaturated fatty acids, hydroxyl acids, or diacids with carbon chains between six and thirty carbon atoms long. Also disclosed are microorganisms and methods using disclosed microorganisms for the production of butanediol and its chemical precursors in low-oxygen or anaerobic fermentation. Also disclosed are microorganisms and methods using disclosed microorganisms for generating hydroxylated fatty acids in microbes through the transfer of enzymes that are known to hydroxylate fatty acids in plants or microbes. Also disclosed are microorganisms and methods using disclosed microorganisms for the production of shorter-chain fatty acids in microbes through the introduction of exogenous fatty acyl-CoA binding proteins.

The disclosure relates to engineered plant acyl-ACP thioesterases having improved activity for the production of medium-chain fatty acid derivatives including e.g., eight carbon and ten carbon fatty acids and fatty acid derivatives. The disclosure further relates to recombinant host cells comprising the engineered plant acyl-ACP thioesterases having improved activity for the production of medium-chain fatty acid derivatives. The disclosure also relates to methods of decreasing toxicity and improving production of medium-chain fatty acids and derivatives.

Methods and compositions for the production of oil, fuels, oleochemicals, and other compounds in recombinant microorganisms are provided, including oil-bearing microorganisms and methods of low cost cultivation of such microorganisms. Microalgal cells containing exogenous genes encoding, for example, a lipase, a sucrose transporter, a sucrose invertase, a fructokinase, a polysaccharide-degrading enzyme, a keto acyl-ACP synthase enzyme, a fatty acyl-ACP thioesterase, a fatty acyl-CoA/aldehyde reductase, a fatty acyl-CoA reductase, a fatty aldehyde reductase, a fatty aldehyde decarbonylase, and/or an acyl carrier protein are useful in manufacturing transportation fuels such as renewable diesel, biodiesel, and renewable jet fuel, as well as oleochemicals such as functional fluids, surfactants, soaps and lubricants.

Genetically engineered microbial, e.g., Prototheca, cells provide microbial oil useful as a food additive and a source of renewable fuels and industrial chemicals.

A method of producing a lipid, containing the steps of: introducing a gene encoding any one of the following proteins (A) to (C) into a host, and thereby obtaining a transformant, and culturing the transformant, to produce a lipid:
(A) A protein consisting of an amino acid sequence of the 128th to 287th positions set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 in which at least one of the glycine of the 203rd position and the valine of the 204th position set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 is substituted with tryptophan;
(B) A protein consisting of an amino acid sequence having 85% or more identity with the amino acid sequence of the 128th to 287th positions set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, in which at least one of the amino acids corresponding to the 203rd position and the 204th position set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 is substituted with tryptophan, and having acyl-ACP thioesterase activity; and
(C) A protein containing the amino acid sequence of the protein (A) or (B), and having acyl-ACP thioesterase activity.

[Problems] To provide a method of producing a medium chain fatty acid or a lipid containing this fatty acid as a component by using a -ketoacyl-ACP synthase, and a gene, a protein and a transformant for use in this method.

[Means to solve] A method of producing a medium chain fatty acid or a lipid containing this fatty acid as a component, containing the steps of: introducing a gene encoding the following protein (A) or (B) into a host, and thereby obtaining a transformant, and collecting a medium chain fatty acid or a lipid containing this fatty acid as a component from the resulting transformant; and a gene, a protein and a transformant for use in this method:
(A) A protein consisting of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1; and
(B) A protein consisting of an amino acid sequence having 90% or more identity with the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, and having medium chain acyl-ACP-specific -ketoacyl-ACP synthase activity.

The present invention discloses a process for increasing the production of free fatty acids at high yield (close to maximum theoretical yield), with various fatty acid compositions and various percentage of fatty acids accumulated intracellularly. This invention will enable the efficient production of other products derived from free fatty acids and/or products that can be branched out from the fatty acid synthesis pathways.

Disclosed herein are methods of manufacturing renewable chemicals through the manufacture of novel triglyceride oils followed by chemical modification of the oils. Methods such as transesterification, hydrogenation, hydrocracking, deoxygenation, isomerization, interesterification, hydroxylation, hydrolysis and saponification are disclosed. Novel oils containing fatty acid chain lengths of C8, C10, C12 or C14 are also disclosed and are useful as feedstocks in the methods of the invention.

The disclosure relates to fatty diols and recombinant microorganisms for producing them. More particularly, the disclosure relates to recombinant microorganisms engineered to produce fatty diols via fermentation. Further encompassed is a process that uses the microorganisms to produce fatty diols from a simple carbon source.