Provided is a microorganism that is able to produce 2-phenylethanol at a high concentration, and a method of efficiently producing 2-phenylethanol by using a saccharide as a raw material.

Provided is a coryneform bacterium transformant in which a shikimate pathway is activated, and further, a gene that encodes an enzyme having phenylpyruvate decarboxylase activity is introduced in such a manner that the gene can be expressed.

Also provided is a 2-phenylethanol producing method that includes causing the coryneform bacterium transformant according to the present disclosure to react in water containing a saccharide.

Provided is a microorganism that is able to produce 2-phenylethanol at a high concentration, and a method of efficiently producing 2-phenylethanol by using a saccharide as a raw material. Provided is a coryneform bacterium transformant in which a shikimate pathway is activated, and further, a gene that encodes an enzyme having phenylpyruvate decarboxylase activity is introduced in such a manner that the gene can be expressed. Also provided is a 2-phenylethanol producing method that includes causing the coryneform bacterium transformant according to the present disclosure to react in water containing a saccharide.

The invention concerns novel enzymes having an arogenate dehydrogenase activity, in particular arogenate dehydrogenase enzymes of plants, and the genes encoding said enzymes. The inventive arogenate dehydrogenase enzymes catalyze the last stage of the metabolic pathway of tyrosine biosynthesis, and constitute, as such, potential targets of herbicides. Hence the invention also concerns a method for identifying herbicide compounds targeting said enzymes, said herbicide compounds preventing tyrosine biosynthesis by being fixed on said enzymes. The invention further concerns transgenic plants tolerant to herbicide compounds targeting an enzyme involved in the tyrosine biosynthesis pathway, in particular an enzyme involved in the transformation of L-tyrosine prephenate, in particular an arogenate dehydrogenase enzyme. Said plants become tolerant by expression in their tissues of a prephenate dehydrogenase enzyme, said enzyme being insensitive to said herbicide compounds and enabling the plant to synthetize tyrosine despite being treated with said herbicide compounds.

A method for producing an L-amino acid is described, for example, L-phenylalanine and L-histidine, by fermentation using a bacterium of the Enterobacteriaceae family, wherein the bacterium has been modified by attaching a DNA fragment able to be transcribed encoding the peptide represented in SEQ ID NO: 2, or a variant thereof, particularly a portion of the ssrA gene, to the 3-end of gene encoding for the bacterial enzyme, which influences on the L-amino acid biosynthesis, such as chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydrogenase or phosphoglucose isomerase.

Prephenate dehydrogenases and arogenate dehydrogenase polynucleotide and polypeptide sequences are provided herein. These polypeptides are all insensitive to effector based feedback inhibition. Polypeptides with these activities and lacking feedback inhibition by the product were not previously identified and characterized from plants. The polypeptides may be used to generate constructs and transgenic cells or plants. Methods of increasing production of products of the tyrosine or HPP pathway by increasing expression of the polynucleotides provided herein in plants or cells overexpressing the polypeptides are provided. In addition overexpression of the polypeptides in plant cells increases resistance to herbicides.