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.

Disclosed is a technique for constructing optogenetic amplifier and inverter circuits utilizing transcriptional activator/repressor pairs, in which expression of the transcriptional activator or repressor, respectively, is controlled by light-controlled transcription factors. This system is demonstrated utilizing the quinic acid regulon system from Neurospora crassa, or Q System, a transcriptional activator/repressor system. This is also demonstrated utilizing the galactose regulon from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or GAL System. Such optogenetic amplifier circuits enable multi-phase microbial fermentations, in which different light schedules are applied in each phase to dynamically control different metabolic pathways for the production of proteins, fuels or chemicals. The orthogonal nature of the Q and GAL systems enable the co-expression of amplifier and inverter circuits to simultaneously amplify and invert the response of light-controlled transcriptional controls over different sets of genes in the same cell.

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) variants with a greater phenylalanine-converting activity and/or a reduced immunogenicity as compared to a wild-type PAL for therapeutic uses, including the treatment of adolescent subjects having PKU.

Provided herein are phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) variants produced by prokaryotes, wherein such prokaryotic PAL variant has a greater phenylalanine-converting activity and/or a reduced immunogenicity as compared to a wild-type PAL. Further provided are compositions of prokaryotic PAL and biologically active fragments, mutants, variants or analogs thereof, as well as methods for the production, purification, formulation, and use of such compositions for industrial and therapeutic purposes, e.g., treating hyperphenylalaninemia, including phenylketonuria, and other disorders, including cancer.

Genetically engineered bacteria, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, and methods of modulating and treating diseases associated with hyperphenylalaninemia are disclosed.

Described herein are engineered metabolic pathways in recombinant microorganism host cells which result in the production of 2-phenylethanol or 2-phenylacetic acid. Also described herein are methods of using the recombinant microorganisms for the production of 2-phenylethanol or 2-phenylacetic acid.

The present invention concerns a method to modulate the level of or to modify a target molecule in a subject or an environment, said method comprising: administering in said subject or providing to said environment an engineered bacterial strain comprising (i) a heterologous or engineered nucleic acid involved in the expression of a molecule of interest, wherein the expression of said molecule of interest modulates directly or indirectly the level of or modify the target molecule in said subject or environment, and (ii) a heterologous or engineered gene or gene set involved in the import and/or metabolism of a rare carbohydrate, wherein said heterologous gene or gene set comes from another species than the engineered bacterial strain; and further administering to said subject, or providing to said environment, said rare carbohydrate; whereby the level of the target molecule in said subject or environment is modulated or the target molecule is modified in said subject or environment.

The present invention concerns a method to modulate the level of or to modify a target molecule in a subject or an environment, said method comprising: administering in said subject or providing to said environment an engineered bacterial strain comprising (i) a heterologous or engineered nucleic acid involved in the expression of a molecule of interest, wherein the expression of said molecule of interest modulates directly or indirectly the level of or modify the target molecule in said subject or environment and (ii) an autologous gene or gene set involved in the import and/or metabolism of a milk oligosaccharide; and further administering to said subject, or providing to said environment, said milk oligosaccharide; whereby the level of the target molecule in said subject or environment is modulated or the target molecule is modified in said subject or environment.

Described herein are an immobilized enzyme, and a preparation method therefor and a use thereof. The immobilized enzyme includes activated PEI and an enzyme covalently bonded to the activated PEI, where the enzyme is selected from any one of a transaminase, a ketoreductase, a monooxygenase, an ammonia lyase, an ene-reductase, an imine reductase, an amino acid dehydrogenase and a nitrilase.

Genetically engineered bacteria, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, and methods of modulating and treating diseases associated with hyperphenylalaninemia are disclosed.