The invention relates to a whole-cell catalyst which expresses a recombinant α-dioxygenase or the combination of a recombinant fatty acid reductase and a phosphopantetheinyl transferase which phosphopantetheinylates the fatty acid reductase, and which expresses, in addition to the α-dioxygenase and/or the combination of fatty acid reductase and phosphopantetheinyl transferase, a transaminase, wherein the phosphopantetheinyl transferase and/or transaminase is preferably recombinant; and also to a process for converting a carboxylic acid or dicarboxylic acid or a monoester thereof to an amine or diamine, comprising the steps of contacting the carboxylic acid or dicarboxylic acid or the monoester thereof with a phosphopantetheinylated fatty acid reductase or an α-dioxygenase and contacting the product with a transaminase.

The present invention relates to a microorganism genetically modified for improved production of alanine, wherein the microorganism expresses a heterologous alaD gene coding an alanine dehydrogenase and has reduced Lrp transcription factor activity and/or expression. The present invention also relates to a method for the production of alanine using said microorganism.

A method for manufacturing 1,3-propanediol includes culturing, in the presence of a saccharide and formaldehyde to produce 1,3-propanediol, a microorganism having the following genes: (a) a first gene encoding an enzyme that catalyzes an aldol reaction between pyruvic acid and aldehydes; (b) a second gene encoding an enzyme that catalyzes a decarboxylation reaction of α-keto acids; and (c) a third gene encoding an enzyme that catalyzes a reduction reaction of aldehydes, is provided.

Microorganisms are genetically engineered to produce 3-hydroxypropionate (3-HP). The microorganisms are carboxydotrophic acetogens. The microorganisms produce acetyl-coA using the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway for fixing CO/CO.sub.2. A β-alanine pyruvate aminotransferase from a microorganism that contains such an enzyme is introduced. Additionally, an acetyl-coA carboxylase may also be introduced. The production of 3-HP can be improved. This can be effected by improved promoters or higher copy number or enzymes that are catalytically more efficient.

A method for manufacturing 1,3-propanediol includes culturing, in the presence of a saccharide and formaldehyde to produce 1,3-propanediol, a microorganism having the following genes: (a) a first gene encoding an enzyme that catalyzes an aldol reaction between pyruvic acid and aldehydes; (b) a second gene encoding an enzyme that catalyzes a decarboxylation reaction of α-keto acids; and (c) a third gene encoding an enzyme that catalyzes a reduction reaction of aldehydes, is provided.

The present invention provides enzymes that have been optimized by implementation of Protein Repair One Stop Shop (PROSS), an algorithm that generates protein design(s) for enhanced stability without changing either enzymatic properties or enzyme active site conformation of the respective enzyme. The protein design(s) generated by PROSS introduce mutations to the amino acid sequence of a wild-type protein, resulting in a mutated amino acid sequence that encodes a variant of the wild-type enzyme, i.e., an enzyme variant, which has an enhanced stability, core packing, surface polarity and backbone rigidity, a higher functional expression, and/or a combination thereof, compared to the stability core packing, surface polarity and backbone rigidity, functional expression and/or a combination thereof, of the wild-type enzyme.

The present invention relates to a recombinant nucleic acid molecule, a recombinant microorganism, to a method for producing alanine and to the use of the recombinant nucleic acid molecule or the recombinant microorganism for the fermentative production of alanine.

A recombinant microorganism includes a gene encoding a pyridoxine dehydrogenase, a gene encoding a pyridoxamine synthetase having an enzymatic activity of synthesizing pyridoxamine from pyridoxal, and a gene encoding an amino acid regeneration enzyme having an enzymatic activity of regenerating an amino acid consumed by the pyridoxamine synthetase, in which at least two of the gene encoding the pyridoxine dehydrogenase, the gene encoding the pyridoxamine synthetase, or the gene encoding the amino acid regeneration enzyme, are introduced from outside of a bacterial cell, or are endogenous to the bacterial cell and have an enhanced expression. In addition, a recombinant microorganism into which a gene encoding a pyridoxine dehydrogenase is introduced is provided.

The present invention relates to a recombinant nucleic acid molecule, a recombinant micro-organism, to a method for producing alanine and to the use of the recombinant nucleic acid molecule or the recombinant microorganism for the fermentative production of alanine.

The present invention relates to a recombinant nucleic acid molecule, a recombinant microorganism, to a method for producing alanine and to the use of the recombinant nucleic acid molecule or the recombinant microorganism for the fermentative production of alanine.