Described is a method for the incorporation of formaldehyde into biomass comprising the following enzymatically catalyzed steps (1) condensation of pyruvate with formaldehyde into 4-hydroxy-2-oxobutanoic acid (HOB); (2) amination of the thus produced 4-hydroxy-2-oxobutanoic acid (HOB) to produce homoserine; (3) conversion of thus produced homoserine to threonine; (4) conversion of the thus produced threonine into glycine and acetaldehyde or acetyl-CoA; (5) condensation of the thus produced glycine with formaldehyde to produce serine; and (6) conversion of the thus produced serine to produce pyruvate, wherein said pyruvate can then be used as a substrate in step (1).

The present invention provides a method for producing glycine or a salt thereof by fermentation of a bacterium which has been modified to overexpress a gene encoding a protein having L-threonine 3-dehydrogenase activity and a gene encoding a protein having 2-amino-3-oxobutanoate coenzyme A ligase activity. The bacterium can be, for example, a coryneform bacterium or a bacterium belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae.

The present invention provides a method for producing glycine or a salt thereof by fermentation of a bacterium which has been modified to overexpress a gene encoding a protein having L-threonine 3-dehydrogenase activity and a gene encoding a protein having 2-amino-3-oxobutanoate coenzyme A ligase activity. The bacterium can be, for example, a coryneform bacterium or a bacterium belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae.

A method for preparing glycine by using threonine relates to a fermentation process in which threonine is decomposed into glycine and acetaldehyde by aldolase. Glycine and acetyl coenzyme A can be produced in a fermentation process, in which acetaldehyde is reduced into acetyl coenzyme A or an acetyl coenzyme A derivative by acetylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase; or threonine is dehydrogenated by threonine dehydrogenase to obtain 2-amino-3-ketobutyric acid, which is then ligated by 2-amino-3-ketobutyrate CoAligase to obtain acetyl coenzyme A. Coenzyme A can be converted into an acetyl coenzyme A derivative under different fermentation conditions.

The present disclosure relates to a method for the incorporation of formaldehyde into biomass comprising the following enzymatically catalyzed steps: (1) condensation of pyruvate with formaldehyde into 4-hydroxy-2-oxobutanoic acid (HOB); (2) amination of the thus produced 4-hydroxy-2-oxobutanoic acid (HOB) to produce homoserine; (3) conversion of thus produced homoserine to threonine; (4) conversion of the thus produced threonine into glycine and acetaldehyde or acetyl-CoA; (5) condensation of the thus produced glycine with formaldehyde to produce serine; and (6) conversion of the thus produced serine to produce pyruvate, wherein said pyruvate can then be used as a substrate in step (1). The disclosure also relates to enzymes for catalyzing the corresponding enzymatic reactions and recombinant microorganisms which express the enzymes for catalyzing the corresponding enzymatic reactions.

The present disclosure relates to a method for the incorporation of formaldehyde into biomass comprising the following enzymatically catalyzed steps: (1) condensation of pyruvate with formaldehyde into 4-hydroxy-2-oxobutanoic acid (HOB); (2) amination of the thus produced 4-hydroxy-2-oxobutanoic acid (HOB) to produce homoserine; (3) conversion of thus produced homoserine to threonine; (4) conversion of the thus produced threonine into glycine and acetaldehyde or acetyl-CoA; (5) condensation of the thus produced glycine with formaldehyde to produce serine; and (6) conversion of the thus produced serine to produce pyruvate, wherein said pyruvate can then be used as a substrate in step (1). The disclosure also relates to enzymes for catalyzing the corresponding enzymatic reactions and recombinant microorganisms which express the enzymes for catalyzing the corresponding enzymatic reactions.

Recombinant microorganisms are provided which have been engineered to produce fatty alcohols. Also provided are recombinant microorganisms which comprise a heterologous polynucleotide encoding a fatty alcohol reductase enzyme and an introduced polynucleotide encoding a -ketoacyl acyl carrier protein synthase.

The present invention concerns a metabolically engineered microorganism for glycine bioproduction or a salt or an ester thereof, the genome of said microorganism comprises an attenuation of the expression of genes encoding enzymes having glycine cleavage system activity as defined by E.C. 1.4.1.27 together with an overexpressing of threonine dehydrogenase dependent pathway as defined by EC E.C. 1.1.1.103 and E.C. 2.3.1.29 and/or with a threonine aldolase dependent pathway as defined by E.C. 4.1.2.48 or EC 4.1.2.42 or any of its catalytically active variants, its use for the production of glycine or one of its salts or esters. The present invention also concerns a fermentation process using said metabolically engineered microorganism for the production of glycine or one of its salts or esters.