Methods of microbial screening for identifying alcohol acyltransferases for ester biosynthesis and submodules for ester pathways to produce butyryl-coenzyme A derived esters are disclosed. The method includes the introduction preselected plasmids into a respective host strain to form engineered microbes, in situ fermentation thereof followed by a colorimetric assay for quantification of production of the target ester. In situ fermentation includes inoculating each well of a microplate that have a culture media for producing target esters with one of the engineered microbes, adding an overlay of a solvent to each, and incubating the same. The colorimetric assay includes transfer of a quantity of the overlay from each well to respective clean wells of a new microplate, treatment of each well to form an iron-hydroxamic acid complex aqueous phase, centrifugation of the microplate, and measurement of the absorbance at 520 nm and comparison to a standard curve for the target ester.

Processes, systems and microorganisms are described herein for producing glycolate from ethylene glycol. The processes generally comprise supplying a fermentation broth into a fermentation vessel, wherein the fermentation broth comprises ethylene glycol and a microorganism having a functional metabolic pathway for utilizing ethylene glycol as a carbon source. In a growth phase, an oxygen-containing gas is injected into the fermentation broth to provide oxygen bio-availability conditions to promote cell growth of the microorganism and limit accumulation of glycolate in the fermentation broth. In a production phase, an oxygen-containing gas is injected into the fermentation broth to provide oxygen bio-availability conditions to promote production of glycolate from ethylene glycol by the microorganism and accumulation of the glycolate in the fermentation broth, to produce a glycolate enriched broth.

The invention relates to the field of pharmaceutical synthesis, in particular to a preparation method of (3R,3aS,6aR)-hexahydrofuro[2,3-b]furan-3-ol derivatives and their intermediates. The preparation method is carried out starting from compound Formula A1. ##STR00001## In the preparation of (3R,3aS,6aR)-hexahydrofuro[2,3-b]furan-3-ol derivatives, the chirality was constructed by enzymatic method, and the products were prepared with high optical purity. The preparation method can be used to produce the key intermediates of (3R,3aS,6aR)-hexahydrofuro[2,3-b]furan-3-ol of darunavir commercially, which is a very economical route suitable for industrial production.

The disclosure relates to the biosynthesis of terpenoids, such as, for example, geraniol and derivatives thereof, using genetic engineering. In particular, the disclosure relates to the biosynthesis of nepetalactol, nepetalactone, dihydronepetalactone, and derivatives thereof. The disclosure provides recombinant cells genetically engineered to produce high levels of nepetalactol, nepetalactone and/or dihydronepetalactone. The disclosure also provides methods of producing nepetalactol, nepetalactone and dihydronepetalactone using cell-based systems as well as cell-free systems.

The present disclosure provides methods for utilizing genetically modified microbes to co-produce 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) and acetyl-CoA, and derivatives thereof from malonate semialdehyde as a common single intermediate. The disclosure further provides modified microbe that co-produce the 3-HP and acetyl-CoA derivatives from malonate semialdehyde.

The present invention relates to a genetically engineered microorganism expressing (i) formate tetrahydrofolate (THF) ligase, methenyi-THF cyclohydrolase and methylene-THF dehydrogenase, (ii) the enzymes of the glycine cleavage system (GCS), (iii) serine deaminase and serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT), (iv) an enzyme increasing the availability of NADPH, and (v) optionally formate dehydrogenase (FDH), and wherein the genetically engineered microorganism has been genetically engineered to express at least one of the enzymes of (i) to (v), wheren said enzyme is not expressed by the corresponding microorganism that has been used to prepare the genetically engineered microorganism, and wherein the enzymes of (i) to (v) are genomically expressed.

The present disclosure provides engineered ketoreductase enzymes having improved properties as compared to a naturally occurring wild-type ketoreductase enzyme. Also provided are polynucleotides encoding the engineered ketoreductase enzymes, host cells capable of expressing the engineered ketoreductase enzymes, and methods of using the engineered ketoreductase enzymes to synthesize a variety of chiral compounds.

The invention relates to biosensors. More particularly, this invention relates to an electrochemical biosensor and to electrochemically active enzymes or variants thereof that are suitable for detection of one or more target molecules in a sample.

The disclosure relates to omega-hydroxylase-related fusion polypeptides that result in improved omega-hydroxylated fatty acid derivative production when expressed in recombinant host cells. The disclosure further relates to microorganisms for expressing the omega-hydroxylase-related fusion polypeptides for the production of omega-hydroxylated fatty acid derivatives.

Processes, systems and microorganisms are described herein for producing glycolate from ethylene glycol. The processes generally comprise supplying a fermentation broth into a fermentation vessel, wherein the fermentation broth comprises ethylene glycol and a microorganism having a functional metabolic pathway for utilizing ethylene glycol as a carbon source. In a growth phase, an oxygen-containing gas is injected into the fermentation broth to provide oxygen bio-availability conditions to promote cell growth of the microorganism and limit accumulation of glycolate in the fermentation broth. In a production phase, an oxygen-containing gas is injected into the fermentation broth to provide oxygen bio-availability conditions to promote production of glycolate from ethylene glycol by the microorganism and accumulation of the glycolate in the fermentation broth, to produce a glycolate enriched broth.