Disclosed are novel hydroxylated psilocybin derivative compounds and pharmaceutical and recreational drug formulations containing the same. The compounds may be produced synthetically or biosynthetically.

A DNA expression construct comprising a polynucleotide encoding an unnatural UstD enzyme, the unnatural enzyme itself, and a method of making gamma-hydroxy amino acids by contacting an aldehyde-containing substrate, an amino acid, and the unnatural, purified UstD enzyme under conditions and for a time sufficient to react at least a portion of the aldehyde-containing substrate with at least a portion of the amino acid, to yield a gamma-hydroxy amino acid product.

The subject technology generally relates to biosynthesis of styrene. Certain embodiments of the subject technology is based, in part, on the recognition that phenylalanine can be converted to styrene by a two-step pathway of deamination and de-carboxylation, with trans-cinnamic acid (tCA) as the intermediate. Two types of enzymes are directly involved in this process, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), which converts phenylalanine to tCA, and cinnamic acid decarboxylase, which coverts tCA to styrene. Host cells expressing these two types of enzymes can be cultured in bioreactor to produce styrene from renewable substrates such as glucose.

Transgenic host cells, vectors useful for making transgenic host cells, and kits useful for making transgenic host cells are described. Also described are transgenic plants. In some embodiments, transgenic host cells express a 4-hydroxyphenylacetaldehyde synthase (4HPAAS). In some embodiments, transgenic host cells express a tyrosol:UDP-glucose 8-O-glucosyltransferase (T8GT). The transgenic host cells are useful for biosynthesis of one or more of salidroside, icariside D2, tyrosol, and 4-hydroxypenylacetaldehyde.

The invention provides non-naturally occurring microbial organisms containing a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid pathway, wherein the microbial organisms selectively produce a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid of a specified length. Also provided are non-naturally occurring microbial organisms having a fatty alcohol, fatty aldehyde or fatty acid pathway, wherein the microbial organisms further include an acetyl-CoA pathway. In some aspects, the microbial organisms of the invention have select gene disruptions or enzyme attenuations that increase production of fatty alcohols, fatty aldehydes or fatty acids. The invention additionally provides methods of using the above microbial organisms to produce a fatty alcohol, a fatty aldehyde or a fatty acid.

It has been found that wild-type ferulic acid decarboxylase derived from Saccharomyces has high catalytic activity for the production of unsaturated hydrocarbon compounds. Further, it has been found that in the ferulic acid decarboxylase, substitute of the amino acid at position 398 with glutamine, methionine, asparagine, phenylalanine, histidine, or threonine more improves the catalytic activity, making it possible to provide a method capable of producing an unsaturated hydrocarbon compound such as butadiene with high productivity, and an enzyme used in the method.

Disclosed herein are prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes, including E. coli and S. cerevisiae, genetically altered to biosynthesize tryptamine and tryptamine derivatives. The microbes of the disclosure may be engineered to contain plasmids and stable gene integrations containing sufficient genetic information for conversion of an anthranilate or an indole to a tryptamine. The fermentative production of substituted tryptamines in a whole-cell biocatalyst may be useful for cost effective production of these compounds for therapeutic use.

The present disclosure provides recombinant bacterial cells that have been engineered with genetic circuitry which allow the recombinant bacterial cells to sense a patient's internal environment and respond by turning an engineered metabolic pathway on or off. When turned on, the recombinant bacterial cells complete all of the steps in a metabolic pathway to achieve a therapeutic effect in a host subject. These recombinant bacterial cells are designed to drive therapeutic effects throughout the body of a host from a point of origin of the microbiome. Specifically, the present disclosure provides recombinant bacterial cells comprising a heterologous gene encoding a branched chain amino acid catabolism enzyme. The disclosure further provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising the recombinant bacteria, and methods for treating disorders involving the catabolism of branched chain amino acids using the pharmaceutical compositions disclosed herein.

The invention relates to methods and compositions for modifying a characteristic of a plant without modifying the plant's genome using one or more cells comprising one or more phytohormone genes and at least one polynucleotide of interest, which one or more phytohormone genes and the at least one polynucleotide of interest are expressed in the one or more cells.

Provided herein are methods for modulating the psilocybin biosynthesis pathway in fungi or other organisms. Also provided are genetically modified fungi and organisms with induced and/or increased expression of psilocybin and psilocin and psilocybin and/or psilocin compositions generated by the provided methods.