Microorganisms and methods for the production of butadiene using acetyl-CoA (2024)

This application is a United States National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2015/038945, filed Jul. 2, 2015, which claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/023,786, filed Jul. 11, 2014, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention relates generally to biosynthetic processes, and more specifically to organisms having 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene biosynthetic capability.

Over 25 billion pounds of butadiene (1,3-butadiene, BD) are produced annually and is applied in the manufacture of polymers such as synthetic rubbers and ABS resins, and chemicals such as hexamethylenediamine and 1,4-butanediol. Butadiene is typically produced as a by-product of the steam cracking process for conversion of petroleum feedstocks such as naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas, ethane or natural gas to ethylene and other olefins. The ability to manufacture butadiene from alternative and/or renewable feedstocks would represent a major advance in the quest for more sustainable chemical production processes.

One possible way to produce butadiene renewably involves fermentation of sugars or other feedstocks to produce diols, such as 1,4-butanediol or 1,3-butanediol, which are separated, purified, and then dehydrated to butadiene in a second step involving metal-based catalysis. Direct fermentative production of butadiene from renewable feedstocks would obviate the need for dehydration steps and butadiene gas (bp −4.4° C.) would be continuously emitted from the fermenter and readily condensed and collected. Developing a fermentative production process would eliminate the need for fossil-based butadiene and would allow substantial savings in cost, energy, and harmful waste and emissions relative to petrochemically-derived butadiene.

2,4-pentadienoate is a useful substituted butadiene derivative in its own right and a valuable intermediate en route to other substituted 1,3-butadiene derivatives, including, for example, 1-carbamoyl-1,3-butadienes which are accessible via Curtius rearrangement. The resultant N-protected-1,3-butadiene derivatives can be used in Diels alder reactions for the preparation of substituted anilines. 2,4-Pentadienoate can be used in the preparation of various polymers and co-polymers.

Thus, there exists a need for alternative methods for effectively producing commercial quantities of compounds such as 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene. The present invention satisfies this need and provides related advantages as well.

The invention provides non-naturally occurring microbial organisms containing butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathways having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. The invention additionally provides methods of using such microbial organisms to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate by culturing a non-naturally occurring microbial organism containing butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathways as described herein under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate.

In some embodiments, provided herein is a non-naturally occurring microbial organism containing a butadiene or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway described herein and further having an acetyl-CoA pathway, a formaldehyde fixation pathway, a methanol metabolic pathway, a formate assimilation pathway, a methanol oxidation pathway, a hydrogenase, a carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, or any combination thereof. In some aspects, the organism includes at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding at least an enzyme of the acetyl-CoA pathway, the formaldehyde fixation pathway, the methanol metabolic pathway, the formate assimilation pathway, the methanol oxidation pathway, the hydrogenase, or any combination thereof, that is expressed in a sufficient amount to enhance the availability of acetyl-CoA or reducing equivalents. Such organisms of the invention advantageously enhance the production of substrates and/or pathway intermediates for the production of butadiene, 2,4-pentadienoate or hydrogen.

In some embodiments, provided herein is a non-naturally occurring microbial organism containing a butadiene or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway described herein and further includes attenuation of one or more endogenous enzymes, which enhances carbon flux through acetyl-CoA, or a gene disruption of one or more endogenous nucleic acids encoding such enzymes. For example, in some aspects, the endogenous enzyme can be selected from DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, DHA synthase or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, provided herein is a non-naturally occurring microbial organism containing a butadiene or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway described herein and further having a hydrogen synthesis pathway catalyzing the synthesis of hydrogen from a reducing equivalent, wherein the hydrogen synthesis pathway includes an enzyme selected from the group consisting of a hydrogenase, a formate-hydrogene lyase and ferredoxin: NADP+ oxidoreductase. In one aspect, the reducing equivalent is selected from the group consisting of NADH, NADPH, FADH, reduced quinones, reduced ferredoxins, reduced flavodoxins or reduced thioredoxins

In some embodiments, provided herein is a method for producing a combination of butadiene and hydrogen or of 2,4-pentadienoate and hydrogen including culturing a non-naturally occurring microbial organism disclosed herein under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce a butadiene and hydrogen or 2,4-pentadienoate and hydrogen.

In some embodiments, provided herein is bioderived butadiene, 2,4-pentadienoate or hydrogen produced according to a method disclosed herein. In some embodiments, provided herein is a biobased product having the bioderived butadiene, 2,4-pentadienoate or hydrogen.

In some embodiments, provided herein is a process for producing hydrogen including (a) culturing a non-naturally culturing microbial organism disclosed herein in a substantially anaerobic culture medium under a condition to produce hydrogen; (b) separating the produced hydrogen from the culture medium; and (c) collecting the separated hydrogen.

FIG. 1 shows exemplary pathways to form butadiene and 2,4-pentadienoate via 2-oxopentenoate. The enzymes are: A. Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, B. 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate aldolase, C. 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate dehydratase, D. 2-oxopentenoate reductase, E. 2-hydroxypentenoate dehydratase, F. 2,4-pentadienoate decarboxylase, G. 2-oxopentenoate ligase, H. 2-oxopentenoate:acetyl CoA CoA transferase, I. 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA reductase, J. 2-hydroxypentenoate ligase, K. 2-hydroxypentenoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, L. 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, M. 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA hydrolase, N. 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA:acetyl CoA CoA transferase.

FIG. 2 shows exemplary pathways to form butadiene and 2,4-pentadienoate via 3-oxoglutaryl-CoA. The enzymes are: A. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase, B. malonyl-CoA:acetyl-CoA acyltransferase, C. 3-Oxoglutaryl-CoA reductase (ketone-reducing), D. 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase (aldehyde forming), E. 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate reductase, F. 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase (alcohol forming), G. 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate dehydratase, H. 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate dehydratase, I. 2,4-pentadienoate decarboxylase, J. 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate ligase, K. 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, L. 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA dehydratase, M. 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate ligase, N. 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, O. 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA hydrolase, P. 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA CoA hydrolase, Q. 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, R. Phosphate-3-hydroxyglutaryl transferase, S. 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate synthase.

FIG. 3 shows exemplary metabolic pathways enabling the conversion of CO2, formate, formaldehyde (Fald), methanol (MeOH), glycerol, xylose (XYL) and glucose (GLC) to acetyl-CoA (ACCOA) and exemplary endogenous enzyme targets for optional attenuation or disruption. The exemplary pathways can be combined with bioderived compound pathways, including the pathways depicted herein that utilize ACCOA, such as those depicted in FIGS. 1-2. The enzyme targets are indicated by arrows having “X” markings. The endogenous enzyme targets include DHA kinase, methanol oxidase (AOX), PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase (PQQ) and/or DHA synthase. The enzymes are: A. methanol dehydrogenase, B. 3-hexulose-6-phosphate synthase, C. 6-phospho-3-hexuloisomerase, D. dihydroxyacetone synthase, E. formate reductase, F. formate ligase, formate transferase, or formate synthetase, G. formyl-CoA reductase, H. formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, I. methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase, J. methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, K. spontaneous or formaldehyde-forming enzyme, L. glycine cleavage system, M. serine hydroxymethyltransferase, N. serine deaminase, O. methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, P. acetyl-CoA synthase, Q. pyruvate formate lyase, R. pyruvate dehydrogenase, pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase, or pyruvate:NADP+ oxidoreductase, S. formate dehydrogenase, T. fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase, U. xylulose-5-phosphate phosphoketolase, V. phosphotransacetylase, W. acetate kinase, X. acetyl-CoA transferase, synthetase, or ligase, Y. lower glycolysis including glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, Z. fructose-6-phosphate aldolase.

FIG. 4 shows exemplary metabolic pathways that provide the extraction of reducing equivalents from methanol, hydrogen, or carbon monoxide. The enzymes are: A. methanol methyltransferase, B. methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, C. methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, D. methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase, E. formyltetrahydrofolate deformylase, F. formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, G. formate hydrogen lyase, H. hydrogenase, I. formate dehydrogenase, J. methanol dehydrogenase, K. spontaneous or formaldehyde activating enzyme, L. formaldehyde dehydrogenase, M. spontaneous or S-(hydroxymethyl)glutathione synthase, N. Glutathione-Dependent Formaldehyde Dehydrogenase, O. S-formylglutathione hydrolase, P. carbon monoxide dehydrogenase. See abbreviation list below for compound names.

FIG. 5 shows the carbon flux distribution of a butadiene pathway via 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate when incorporating the phoshoketolase pathway. The theoretical yield of the pathway is improved from 1 mol butadiene per mole glucose to 1.09 mole butadiene per mole glucose. See abbreviation list below for compound names.

Provided herein is the design and production of cells and organisms having biosynthetic production capabilities for butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. The invention, in particular, relates to the design of microbial organisms capable of producing butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate by introducing one or more nucleic acids encoding a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme.

The following is a list of abbreviations and their corresponding compound or composition names. These abbreviations, which are used throughout the disclosure and the figures. It is understood that one of ordinary skill in the art can readily identify these compounds/compositions by such nomenclature: MeOH or MEOH=methanol; Fald=formaldehyde; GLC=glucose; G6P=glucose-6-phosphate; H6P=hexulose-6-phosphate; F6P=fructose-6-phosphate; FDP=fructose diphosphate or fructose-1,6-diphosphate; DHA=dihydroxyacetone; DHAP=dihydroxyacetone phosphate; G3P=glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate; PYR=pyruvate; ACTP=acetyl-phosphate; ACCOA=acetyl-CoA; AACOA=acetoacetyl-CoA; MALCOA=malonyl-CoA; FTHF=formyltetrahydrofolate; THF=tetrahydrofolate; E4P=erythrose-4-phosphate: Xu5P=xyulose-5-phosphate; Ru5P=ribulose-5-phosphate; S7P=sedoheptulose-7-phosphate: R5P=ribose-5-phosphate; XYL=xylose; TCA=tricarboxylic acid; PEP=Phosphoenolpyruvate; OAA=Oxaloacetate; MAL=malate.

Pathways identified herein, and particularly pathways exemplified in specific combinations presented herein, are superior over other pathways based in part on the applicant's ranking of pathways based on attributes including maximum theoretical yield, maximal carbon flux, maximal production of reducing equivalents, minimal production of CO2, pathway length, number of non-native steps, thermodynamic feasibility, number of enzymes active on pathway substrates or structurally similar substrates, and having steps with currently characterized enzymes, and furthermore, the latter pathways are even more favored by having in addition at least the fewest number of non-native steps required, the most enzymes known active on pathway substrates or structurally similar substrates, and the fewest total number of steps from central metabolism.

In one embodiment, the invention utilizes in silico stoichiometric models of Escherichia coli metabolism that identify metabolic designs for biosynthetic production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. The results described herein indicate that metabolic pathways can be designed and recombinantly engineered to achieve the biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate in Escherichia coli and other cells or organisms. Biosynthetic production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, for example, for the in silico designs can be confirmed by construction of strains having the designed metabolic genotype. These metabolically engineered cells or organisms also can be subjected to adaptive evolution to further augment butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthesis, including under conditions approaching theoretical maximum growth.

In certain embodiments, the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthesis characteristics of the designed strains make them genetically stable and particularly useful in continuous bioprocesses. Separate strain design strategies were identified with incorporation of different non-native or heterologous reaction capabilities into E. coli or other host organisms leading to butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producing metabolic pathways from acetyl-CoA. In silico metabolic designs were identified that resulted in the biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate in microorganisms from each of these substrates or metabolic intermediates.

Strains identified via the computational component of the platform can be put into actual production by genetically engineering any of the predicted metabolic alterations, which lead to the biosynthetic production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or other intermediate and/or downstream products. In yet a further embodiment, strains exhibiting biosynthetic production of these compounds can be further subjected to adaptive evolution to further augment product biosynthesis. The levels of product biosynthesis yield following adaptive evolution also can be predicted by the computational component of the system.

As used herein, the term “non-naturally occurring” when used in reference to a microbial organism or microorganism of the invention is intended to mean that the microbial organism has at least one genetic alteration not normally found in a naturally occurring strain of the referenced species, including wild-type strains of the referenced species. Genetic alterations include, for example, modifications introducing expressible nucleic acids encoding metabolic polypeptides, other nucleic acid additions, nucleic acid deletions and/or other functional disruption of the microbial organism's genetic material. Such modifications include, for example, coding regions and functional fragments thereof, for heterologous, hom*ologous or both heterologous and hom*ologous polypeptides for the referenced species. Additional modifications include, for example, non-coding regulatory regions in which the modifications alter expression of a gene or operon. Exemplary metabolic polypeptides include enzymes or proteins within a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway.

A metabolic modification refers to a biochemical reaction that is altered from its naturally occurring state. Therefore, non-naturally occurring microorganisms can have genetic modifications to nucleic acids encoding metabolic polypeptides, or functional fragments thereof. Exemplary metabolic modifications are disclosed herein.

As used herein, the term “isolated” when used in reference to a microbial organism is intended to mean an organism that is substantially free of at least one component as the referenced microbial organism is found in nature. The term includes a microbial organism that is removed from some or all components as it is found in its natural environment. The term also includes a microbial organism that is removed from some or all components as the microbial organism is found in non-naturally occurring environments. Therefore, an isolated microbial organism is partly or completely separated from other substances as it is found in nature or as it is grown, stored or subsisted in non-naturally occurring environments. Specific examples of isolated microbial organisms include partially pure microbes, substantially pure microbes and microbes cultured in a medium that is non-naturally occurring.

As used herein, the terms “microbial,” “microbial organism” or “microorganism” are intended to mean any organism that exists as a microscopic cell that is included within the domains of archaea, bacteria or eukarya. Therefore, the term is intended to encompass prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells or organisms having a microscopic size and includes bacteria, archaea and eubacteria of all species as well as eukaryotic microorganisms such as yeast and fungi. The term also includes cell cultures of any species that can be cultured for the production of a biochemical.

As used herein, the term “CoA” or “coenzyme A” is intended to mean an organic cofactor or prosthetic group (nonprotein portion of an enzyme) whose presence is required for the activity of many enzymes (the apoenzyme) to form an active enzyme system. Coenzyme A functions in certain condensing enzymes, acts in acetyl or other acyl group transfer and in fatty acid synthesis and oxidation, pyruvate oxidation and in other acetylation.

As used herein, the term “substantially anaerobic” when used in reference to a culture or growth condition is intended to mean that the amount of oxygen is less than about 10% of saturation for dissolved oxygen in liquid media. The term also is intended to include sealed chambers of liquid or solid medium maintained with an atmosphere of less than about 1% oxygen.

“Exogenous” as it is used herein is intended to mean that the referenced molecule or the referenced activity is introduced into the host microbial organism. The molecule can be introduced, for example, by introduction of an encoding nucleic acid into the host genetic material such as by integration into a host chromosome or as non-chromosomal genetic material such as a plasmid. Therefore, the term as it is used in reference to expression of an encoding nucleic acid refers to introduction of the encoding nucleic acid in an expressible form into the microbial organism. When used in reference to a biosynthetic activity, the term refers to an activity that is introduced into the host reference organism. The source can be, for example, a hom*ologous or heterologous encoding nucleic acid that expresses the referenced activity following introduction into the host microbial organism. Therefore, the term “endogenous” refers to a referenced molecule or activity that is present in the host. Similarly, the term when used in reference to expression of an encoding nucleic acid refers to expression of an encoding nucleic acid contained within the microbial organism. The term “heterologous” refers to a molecule or activity derived from a source other than the referenced species whereas “hom*ologous” refers to a molecule or activity derived from the host microbial organism. Accordingly, exogenous expression of an encoding nucleic acid of the invention can utilize either or both a heterologous or hom*ologous encoding nucleic acid.

It is understood that when more than one exogenous nucleic acid is included in a microbial organism that the more than one exogenous nucleic acids refers to the referenced encoding nucleic acid or biosynthetic activity, as discussed above. It is further understood, as disclosed herein, that such more than one exogenous nucleic acids can be introduced into the host microbial organism on separate nucleic acid molecules, on polycistronic nucleic acid molecules, or a combination thereof, and still be considered as more than one exogenous nucleic acid. For example, as disclosed herein a microbial organism can be engineered to express two or more exogenous nucleic acids encoding a desired pathway enzyme or protein. In the case where two exogenous nucleic acids encoding a desired activity are introduced into a host microbial organism, it is understood that the two exogenous nucleic acids can be introduced as a single nucleic acid, for example, on a single plasmid, on separate plasmids, can be integrated into the host chromosome at a single site or multiple sites, and still be considered as two exogenous nucleic acids. Similarly, it is understood that more than two exogenous nucleic acids can be introduced into a host organism in any desired combination, for example, on a single plasmid, on separate plasmids, can be integrated into the host chromosome at a single site or multiple sites, and still be considered as two or more exogenous nucleic acids, for example three exogenous nucleic acids. Thus, the number of referenced exogenous nucleic acids or biosynthetic activities refers to the number of encoding nucleic acids or the number of biosynthetic activities, not the number of separate nucleic acids introduced into the host organism.

As used herein, the term “gene disruption,” or grammatical equivalents thereof, is intended to mean a genetic alteration that renders the encoded gene product inactive or attenuated. The genetic alteration can be, for example, deletion of the entire gene, deletion of a regulatory sequence required for transcription or translation, deletion of a portion of the gene which results in a truncated gene product, or by any of various mutation strategies that inactivate or attenuate the encoded gene product. One particularly useful method of gene disruption is complete gene deletion because it reduces or eliminates the occurrence of genetic reversions in the non-naturally occurring microorganisms of the invention. A gene disruption also includes a null mutation, which refers to a mutation within a gene or a region containing a gene that results in the gene not being transcribed into RNA and/or translated into a functional gene product. Such a null mutation can arise from many types of mutations including, for example, inactivating point mutations, deletion of a portion of a gene, entire gene deletions, or deletion of chromosomal segments.

As used herein, the term “growth-coupled” when used in reference to the production of a biochemical product is intended to mean that the biosynthesis of the referenced biochemical product is produced during the growth phase of a microorganism. In a particular embodiment, the growth-coupled production can be obligatory, meaning that the biosynthesis of the referenced biochemical is an obligatory product produced during the growth phase of a microorganism.

As used herein, the term “attenuate,” or grammatical equivalents thereof, is intended to mean to weaken, reduce or diminish the activity or amount of an enzyme or protein. Attenuation of the activity or amount of an enzyme or protein can mimic complete disruption if the attenuation causes the activity or amount to fall below a critical level required for a given pathway to function. However, the attenuation of the activity or amount of an enzyme or protein that mimics complete disruption for one pathway, can still be sufficient for a separate pathway to continue to function. For example, attenuation of an endogenous enzyme or protein can be sufficient to mimic the complete disruption of the same enzyme or protein for production of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate of the invention, but the remaining activity or amount of enzyme or protein can still be sufficient to maintain other pathways, such as a pathway that is critical for the host microbial organism to survive, reproduce or grow. Attenuation of an enzyme or protein can also be weakening, reducing or diminishing the activity or amount of the enzyme or protein in an amount that is sufficient to increase yield of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate of the invention, but does not necessarily mimic complete disruption of the enzyme or protein.

The non-naturally occurring microbal organisms of the invention can contain stable genetic alterations, which refers to microorganisms that can be cultured for greater than five generations without loss of the alteration. Generally, stable genetic alterations include modifications that persist greater than 10 generations, particularly stable modifications will persist more than about 25 generations, and more particularly, stable genetic modifications will be greater than 50 generations, including indefinitely.

In the case of gene disruptions, a particularly useful stable genetic alteration is a gene deletion. The use of a gene deletion to introduce a stable genetic alteration is particularly useful to reduce the likelihood of a reversion to a phenotype prior to the genetic alteration. For example, stable growth-coupled production of a biochemical can be achieved, for example, by deletion of a gene encoding an enzyme catalyzing one or more reactions within a set of metabolic modifications. The stability of growth-coupled production of a biochemical can be further enhanced through multiple deletions, significantly reducing the likelihood of multiple compensatory reversions occurring for each disrupted activity.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the genetic alterations, including metabolic modifications exemplified herein, are described with reference to a suitable host organism such as E. coli and their corresponding metabolic reactions or a suitable source organism for desired genetic material such as genes for a desired metabolic pathway. However, given the complete genome sequencing of a wide variety of organisms and the high level of skill in the area of genomics, those skilled in the art will readily be able to apply the teachings and guidance provided herein to essentially all other organisms. For example, the E. coli metabolic alterations exemplified herein can readily be applied to other species by incorporating the same or analogous encoding nucleic acid from species other than the referenced species. Such genetic alterations include, for example, genetic alterations of species hom*ologs, in general, and in particular, orthologs, paralogs or nonorthologous gene displacements.

An ortholog is a gene or genes that are related by vertical descent and are responsible for substantially the same or identical functions in different organisms. For example, mouse epoxide hydrolase and human epoxide hydrolase can be considered orthologs for the biological function of hydrolysis of epoxides. Genes are related by vertical descent when, for example, they share sequence similarity of sufficient amount to indicate they are hom*ologous, or related by evolution from a common ancestor. Genes can also be considered orthologs if they share three-dimensional structure but not necessarily sequence similarity, of a sufficient amount to indicate that they have evolved from a common ancestor to the extent that the primary sequence similarity is not identifiable. Genes that are orthologous can encode proteins with sequence similarity of about 25% to 100% amino acid sequence identity. Genes encoding proteins sharing an amino acid similarity less that 25% can also be considered to have arisen by vertical descent if their three-dimensional structure also shows similarities. Members of the serine protease family of enzymes, including tissue plasminogen activator and elastase, are considered to have arisen by vertical descent from a common ancestor.

Orthologs include genes or their encoded gene products that through, for example, evolution, have diverged in structure or overall activity. For example, where one species encodes a gene product exhibiting two functions and where such functions have been separated into distinct genes in a second species, the three genes and their corresponding products are considered to be orthologs. For the production of a biochemical product, those skilled in the art will understand that the orthologous gene harboring the metabolic activity to be introduced or disrupted is to be chosen for construction of the non-naturally occurring microorganism. An example of orthologs exhibiting separable activities is where distinct activities have been separated into distinct gene products between two or more species or within a single species. A specific example is the separation of elastase proteolysis and plasminogen proteolysis, two types of serine protease activity, into distinct molecules as plasminogen activator and elastase. A second example is the separation of mycoplasma 5′-3′ exonuclease and Drosophila DNA polymerase III activity. The DNA polymerase from the first species can be considered an ortholog to either or both of the exonuclease or the polymerase from the second species and vice versa.

In contrast, paralogs are hom*ologs related by, for example, duplication followed by evolutionary divergence and have similar or common, but not identical functions. Paralogs can originate or derive from, for example, the same species or from a different species. For example, microsomal epoxide hydrolase (epoxide hydrolase I) and soluble epoxide hydrolase (epoxide hydrolase II) can be considered paralogs because they represent two distinct enzymes, co-evolved from a common ancestor, that catalyze distinct reactions and have distinct functions in the same species. Paralogs are proteins from the same species with significant sequence similarity to each other suggesting that they are hom*ologous, or related through co-evolution from a common ancestor. Groups of paralogous protein families include HipA hom*ologs, luciferase genes, peptidases, and others.

A nonorthologous gene displacement is a nonorthologous gene from one species that can substitute for a referenced gene function in a different species. Substitution includes, for example, being able to perform substantially the same or a similar function in the species of origin compared to the referenced function in the different species. Although generally, a nonorthologous gene displacement will be identifiable as structurally related to a known gene encoding the referenced function, less structurally related but functionally similar genes and their corresponding gene products nevertheless will still fall within the meaning of the term as it is used herein. Functional similarity requires, for example, at least some structural similarity in the active site or binding region of a nonorthologous gene product compared to a gene encoding the function sought to be substituted. Therefore, a nonorthologous gene includes, for example, a paralog or an unrelated gene.

Therefore, in identifying and constructing the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention having butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic capability, those skilled in the art will understand with applying the teaching and guidance provided herein to a particular species that the identification of metabolic modifications can include identification and inclusion or inactivation of orthologs. To the extent that paralogs and/or nonorthologous gene displacements are present in the referenced microorganism that encode an enzyme catalyzing a similar or substantially similar metabolic reaction, those skilled in the art also can utilize these evolutionally related genes. Similarly for a gene disruption, evolutionally related genes can also be disrupted or deleted in a host microbial organism to reduce or eliminate functional redundancy of enzymatic activities targeted for disruption.

Orthologs, paralogs and nonorthologous gene displacements can be determined by methods well known to those skilled in the art. For example, inspection of nucleic acid or amino acid sequences for two polypeptides will reveal sequence identity and similarities between the compared sequences. Based on such similarities, one skilled in the art can determine if the similarity is sufficiently high to indicate the proteins are related through evolution from a common ancestor. Algorithms well known to those skilled in the art, such as Align, BLAST, Clustal W and others compare and determine a raw sequence similarity or identity, and also determine the presence or significance of gaps in the sequence which can be assigned a weight or score. Such algorithms also are known in the art and are similarly applicable for determining nucleotide sequence similarity or identity. Parameters for sufficient similarity to determine relatedness are computed based on well known methods for calculating statistical similarity, or the chance of finding a similar match in a random polypeptide, and the significance of the match determined. A computer comparison of two or more sequences can, if desired, also be optimized visually by those skilled in the art. Related gene products or proteins can be expected to have a high similarity, for example, 25% to 100% sequence identity. Proteins that are unrelated can have an identity which is essentially the same as would be expected to occur by chance, if a database of sufficient size is scanned (about 5%). Sequences between 5% and 24% may or may not represent sufficient hom*ology to conclude that the compared sequences are related. Additional statistical analysis to determine the significance of such matches given the size of the data set can be carried out to determine the relevance of these sequences.

Exemplary parameters for determining relatedness of two or more sequences using the BLAST algorithm, for example, can be as set forth below. Briefly, amino acid sequence alignments can be performed using BLASTP version 2.0.8 (Jan. 5, 1999) and the following parameters: Matrix: 0 BLOSUM62; gap open: 11; gap extension: 1; x_dropoff: 50; expect: 10.0; wordsize: 3; filter: on. Nucleic acid sequence alignments can be performed using BLASTN version 2.0.6 (Sep. 16, 1998) and the following parameters: Match: 1; mismatch: −2; gap open: 5; gap extension: 2; x_dropoff: 50; expect: 10.0; wordsize: 11; filter: off. Those skilled in the art will know what modifications can be made to the above parameters to either increase or decrease the stringency of the comparison, for example, and determine the relatedness of two or more sequences.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway, having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce butadiene, wherein the butadiene pathway includes a pathway shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 selected from: (1) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (2) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (3) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (4) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (5) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (6) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (7) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (8) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (9) 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (10) 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (11) 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (12) 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (13) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (14) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (15) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (16) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (17) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2; (18) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (19) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (20) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (21) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (22) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (23) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (24) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (25) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2H, and 2I; (26) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (27) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E; 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (28) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (29) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (30) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (31) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (32) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (33) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (34) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (35) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (36) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (37) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (38) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (39) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (40) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (41) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (42) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (43) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (44) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (45) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (46) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (47) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (48) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (49) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (50) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2H, and 2I; (51) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (52) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (53) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (54) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (55) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (56) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (57) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (58) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (59) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (60) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (61) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (62) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (63) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (64) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (65) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (66) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (67) 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (68) 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (69) 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (70) 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (71) 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (72) 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (73) 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1M, and 1F; (74) 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1N, and 1F; (75) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (76) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (77) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (78) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (79) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (80) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (81) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (82) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (83) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2H, and 2I; (84) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (85) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (86) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (87) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (88) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (89) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (90) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (91) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (92) 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (93) 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (94) 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (95) 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (96) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; (97) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I; (98) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I; and (99) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I, wherein 1A is an acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, wherein 1B is a 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate aldolase, wherein 1C is a 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate dehydratase, wherein 1D is a 2-oxopentenoate reductase, wherein 1E is a 2-hydroxypentenoate dehydratase, wherein 1F is a 2,4-pentadienoate decarboxylase, wherein 1G is a 2-oxopentenoate ligase, wherein 1H is a 2-oxopentenoate: acetyl CoA CoA transferase, wherein 1I is a 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA reductase, wherein 1J is a 2-hydroxypentenoate ligase, wherein 1K is a 2-hydroxypentenoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, wherein 1L is a 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, wherein 1M is a 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA hydrolase, wherein 1N is a 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA:acetyl CoA CoA transferase, wherein 2A is an acetyl-CoA carboxylase, wherein 2B is a malonyl-CoA:acetyl-CoA acyltransferase, wherein 2C is a 3-Oxoglutaryl-CoA reductase (ketone-reducing), wherein 2D is a 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase (aldehyde forming), wherein 2E is a 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate reductase, wherein 2F is a 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase (alcohol forming), wherein 2G is a 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate dehydratase, wherein 2H is a 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate dehydratase, wherein 2I is a 2,4-pentadienoate decarboxylase, wherein 2J is a 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate ligase, wherein 2K is a 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate: acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, wherein 2L is a 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA dehydratase, wherein 2M is a 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate ligase, wherein 2N is a 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, wherein 2O is a 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA hydrolase, wherein 2P is a 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA CoA hydrolase, wherein 2Q is a 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, wherein 2R is a Phosphate-3-hydroxyglutaryl transferase, and wherein 2S is a 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate synthase.

In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (1) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (2) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (3) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (4) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (5) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (6) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (7) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (8) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (9) 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (10) 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (11) 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (12) 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (13) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (14) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (15) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (16) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (17) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (18) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (19) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (20) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (21) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (22) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (23) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (24) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (25) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2H, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (26) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (27) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E; 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (28) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (29) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (30) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (31) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (32) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (33) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (34) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (35) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (36) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (37) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (38) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (39) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (40) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (41) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (42) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (43) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (44) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (45) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (46) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (47) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (48) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (49) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (50) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2H, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (51) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (52) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (53) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (54) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (55) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (56) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (57) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (58) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (59) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (60) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (61) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (62) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (63) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (64) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (65) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (66) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (67) 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (68) 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (69) 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (70) 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (71) 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (72) 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (73) 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1M, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (74) 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, 1N, and 1F. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (75) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (76) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (77) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (78) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (79) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (80) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (81) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (82) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (83) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2H, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (84) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (85) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (86) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (87) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (88) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (89) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (90) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (91) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (92) 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (93) 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (94) 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (95) 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (96) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (97) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, 2P, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (98) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2Q, and 2I. In some embodiments, the butadiene pathway includes (99) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, 2P, and 2I.

In some aspects of the invention, the microbial organism can include one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, or eleven exogenous nucleic acids each encoding a butadiene pathway enzyme. In some aspects, the microbial organism includes exogenous nucleic acids encoding each of the enzymes of at least one of the pathways selected from (1)-(99). In some aspects, the at least one exogenous nucleic acid is a heterologous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway, having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce 2,4-pentadienoate, wherein the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway includes a pathway shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 selected from (1) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1M; (2) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1N; (3) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1M; (4) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1N; (5) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1M; (6) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1N; (7) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1M; (8) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1N; (9) 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1M; (10) 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1N; (11) 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1M; (12) 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1N; (13) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1M; (14) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1N; (15) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1M; (16) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1N; (17) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (18) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (19) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (20) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (21) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (22) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (23) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; (24) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P; (25) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, and 2H; (26) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (27) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E; 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (28) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (29) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (30) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (31) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (32) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; (33) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P; (34) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (35) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (36) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (37) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (38) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (39) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (40) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; (41) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P; (42) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (43) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (44) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (45) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (46) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (47) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (48) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; (49) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P; (50) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, and 2H; (51) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (52) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (53) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (54) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (55) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (56) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (57) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; (58) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P; (59) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (60) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (61) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (62) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (63) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (64) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (65) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; (66) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P; (67) 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1M; (68) 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1N; (69) 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1M; (70) 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1N; (71) 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1M; (72) 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1N; (73) 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1M; (74) 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1N; (75) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (76) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (77) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (78) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (79) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (80) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (81) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; (82) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P; (83) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, and 2H; (84) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (85) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (86) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (87) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (88) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (89) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (90) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; (91) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P; (92) 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (93) 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (94) 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q; (95) 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P; (96) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q; (97) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P; (98) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q; and (99) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P, wherein 1A is an acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, wherein 1B is a 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate aldolase, wherein 1C is a 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate dehydratase, wherein 1D is a 2-oxopentenoate reductase, wherein 1E is a 2-hydroxypentenoate dehydratase, wherein 1G is a 2-oxopentenoate ligase, wherein 1H is a 2-oxopentenoate: acetyl CoA CoA transferase, wherein 1I is a 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA reductase, wherein 1J is a 2-hydroxypentenoate ligase, wherein 1K is a 2-hydroxypentenoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, wherein 1L is a 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, wherein 1M is a 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA hydrolase, wherein 1N is a 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA:acetyl CoA CoA transferase, wherein 2A is an acetyl-CoA carboxylase, wherein 2B is a malonyl-CoA:acetyl-CoA acyltransferase, wherein 2C is a 3-Oxoglutaryl-CoA reductase (ketone-reducing), wherein 2D is a 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase (aldehyde forming), wherein 2E is a 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate reductase, wherein 2F is a 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase (alcohol forming), wherein 2G is a 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate dehydratase, wherein 2H is a 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate dehydratase, wherein 2J is a 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate ligase, wherein 2K is a 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate: acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, wherein 2L is a 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA dehydratase, wherein 2M is a 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate ligase, wherein 2N is a 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, wherein 2O is a 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA hydrolase, wherein 2P is a 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA CoA hydrolase, wherein 2Q is a 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA: acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, wherein 2R is a Phosphate-3-hydroxyglutaryl transferase, and wherein 2S is a 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate synthase.

In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (1) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (2) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (3) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (4) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (5) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (6) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (7) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (8) 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (9) 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (10) 1B, 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (11) 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (12) 1B, 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (13) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (14) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (15) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (16) 1B, 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (17) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (18) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (19) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (20) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (21) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (22) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (23) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (24) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (25) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, and 2H. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (26) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (27) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E; 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (28) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (29) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (30) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (31) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (32) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (33) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (34) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (35) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (36) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (37) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (38) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (39) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (40) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (41) 2A, 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (42) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (43) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (44) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (45) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (46) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (47) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (48) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (49) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (50) 2B, 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, and 2H. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (51) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (52) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (53) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (54) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (55) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (56) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (57) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (58) 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (59) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (60) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (61) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (62) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (63) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (64) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (65) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (66) 2B, 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (67) 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (68) 1C, 1G, 1I, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (69) 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (70) 1C, 1H, 1I, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (71) 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (72) 1C, 1D, 1J, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (73) 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1M. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (74) 1C, 1D, 1K, 1L, and 1N. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (75) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (76) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (77) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (78) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2K, 2L, 20, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (79) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (80) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (81) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (82) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (83) 2C, 2R, 2S, 2E, 2G, and 2H. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (84) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (85) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (86) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (87) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (88) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 0.2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (89) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (90) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (91) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (92) 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (93) 2C, 2F, 2J, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (94) 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (95) 2C, 2F, 2K, 2L, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (96) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (97) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2M, 2O, and 2P. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (98) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2Q. In some embodiments, the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway comprises (99) 2C, 2F, 2G, 2N, 2O, and 2P.

In some aspects of the invention, the microbial organism can include one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten exogenous nucleic acids each encoding a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme. In some aspects, the microbial organism includes exogenous nucleic acids encoding each of the enzymes of at least one of the pathways selected from (1)-(99). In some aspects, the at least one exogenous nucleic acid is a heterologous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene pathway enzyme or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, wherein the butadiene pathway or the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway includes a pathway as described above, further having an acetyl-CoA pathway having a pathway shown in FIG. 3 selected from: (1) 3T and 3V; (2) 3T, 3W, and 3X; (3) 3U and 3V; (4) 3U, 3W, and 3X, wherein 3T is a fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase, wherein 3U is a xylulose-5-phosphate phosphoketolase, wherein 3V is a phosphotransacetylase, wherein 3W is an acetate kinase, wherein 3X is an acetyl-CoA transferase, an acetyl-CoA synthetase, or an acetyl-CoA ligase. In some embodiments, the acetyl-CoA pathway comprises (1) 3T and 3V. In some embodiments, the acetyl-CoA pathway comprises (2) 3T, 3W, and 3X. In some embodiments, the acetyl-CoA pathway comprises (3) 3U and 3V. In some embodiments, the acetyl-CoA pathway comprises (4) 3U, 3W, and 3X.

In some aspects, the microbial organism has an acetyl-CoA pathway as described above wherein an enzyme of the acetyl-CoA pathway is encoded by at least one exogenous nucleic acid and is expressed in a sufficient amount to enhance carbon flux through acetyl-CoA. In some aspects, the microbial organism has one, two, or three exogenous nucleic acids each encoding an acetyl-CoA pathway enzyme. In some aspects, the microbial organism has exogenous nucleic acids encoding each of the enzymes of at least one of the acetyl-CoA pathways described above selected from (1)-(4). In some aspects, the at least one exogenous nucleic acid is a heterologous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene pathway enzyme or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, wherein the butadiene pathway or the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway includes a pathway as described above, further having a formaldehyde fixation pathway as shown in FIG. 3 selected from: (1) 3D and 3Z; (2) 3D; or (3) 3B and 3C, wherein 3B is a 3-hexulose-6-phosphate synthase, wherein 3C is a 6-phospho-3-hexuloisomerase, wherein 3D is a dihydroxyacetone synthase, wherein 3Z is a fructose-6-phosphate aldolase. In some embodiments, the formaldehyde fixation pathway comprises (1) 3D and 3Z. In some embodiments, the formaldehyde fixation pathway comprises (2) 3D. In some embodiments, the formaldehyde fixation pathway comprises (3) 3B and 3C.

In some aspects, the microbial organism has a formaldehyde fixation pathway as described above wherein an enzyme of the formaldehyde fixation pathway is encoded by at least one exogenous nucleic acid and is expressed in a sufficient amount to enhance carbon flux through acetyl-CoA. In some aspects, the microbial organism has one or two exogenous nucleic acids each encoding a formaldehyde fixation pathway enzyme. In some aspects, the microbial organism has exogenous nucleic acids encoding each of the enzymes of at least one of the formaldehyde fixation pathways described above selected from (1)-(3). In some aspects, the at least one exogenous nucleic acid is a heterologous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene pathway enzyme or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, wherein the butadiene pathway or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway includes a pathway as described above, further having a methanol metabolic pathway as shown in FIG. 4 selected from (1) 4A and 4B; (2) 4A, 4B and 4C; (3) 4J; (4) 4J, 4K and 4C; (5) 4J, 4M, and 4N; (6) 4J and 4L; (7) 4J, 4L, and 4G; (8) 4J, 4L, and 4I; (9) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 4E; (10) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 4F; (11) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, and 4E; (12) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, and 4F; (13) 4J, 4M, 4N, and 4O; (14) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4G; (15) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4F, and 4G; (16) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4G; (17) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, 4F, and 4G; (18) 4J, 4M, 4N, 4O, and 4G; (19) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4I; (20) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4F, and 4I; (21) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4I; (22) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, 4F, and 4I; and (23) 4J, 4M, 4N, 4O, and 4I, wherein 4A is a methanol methyltransferase, wherein 4B is a methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, wherein 4C is a methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, wherein 4D is a methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase, wherein 4E is a formyltetrahydrofolate deformylase, wherein 4F is a formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, wherein 4G is a formate hydrogen lyase, wherein 4I is a formate dehydrogenase, wherein 4J is a methanol dehydrogenase, wherein 4K is a formaldehyde activating enzyme or spontaneous, wherein 4L is a formaldehyde dehydrogenase, wherein 4M is a S-(hydroxymethyl)glutathione synthase or spontaneous, wherein 4N is a glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase, wherein 4O is a S-formylglutathione hydrolase. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (1) 4A and 4B. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (2) 4A, 4B and 4C. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (3) 4J, 4K and 4C. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (4) 4J, 4M, and 4N. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (5) 4J and 4L. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (6) 4J, 4L, and 4G. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (7) 4J, 4L, and 4I. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (8) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 4E. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (9) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 4F. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (10) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, and 4E. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (11) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, and 4F. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (12) 4J, 4M, 4N, and 4O. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (13) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4G; In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (14) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4F, and 4G. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (15) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4G. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (16) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, 4F, and 4G. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (17) 4J, 4M, 4N, 4O, and 4G. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (18) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4I. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (19) 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4F, and 4I. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (20) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4I. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (21) 4J, 4K, 4C, 4D, 4F, and 4I. In some embodiments, the methanol metabolic pathway comprises (22) 4J, 4M, 4N, 4O, and 4I.

In some aspects, the microbial organism has a methanol metabolic pathway as described above wherein an enzyme of the methanol metabolic pathway is encoded by at least one exogenous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the microbial organism has one, two, three, four, five, or six exogenous nucleic acids each encoding a methanol metabolic pathway enzyme. In some aspects, the microbial organism has exogenous nucleic acids encoding each of the enzymes of at least one of the methanol metabolic pathways described above selected from (1)-(23). In some aspects, the at least one exogenous nucleic acid is a heterologous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene pathway enzyme or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce butadiene or a 2,4-pentadienoate, wherein the butadiene pathway or the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway includes a pathway as described above, further having a formate assimilation pathway as shown in FIG. 3 selected from: (1) 3E; (2) 3F, and 3G; (3) 3H, 3I, 3J, and 3K; (4) 3H, 3I, 3J, 3L, 3M, and 3N; (5) 3E, 3H, 3I, 3J, 3L, 3M, and 3N; (6) 3F, 3G, 3H, 3I, 3J, 3L, 3M, and 3N; (7) 3K, 3H, 3I, 3J, 3L, 3M, and 3N; and (8) 3H, 3I, 3J, 3O, and 3P, wherein 3E is a formate reductase, 3F is a formate ligase, a formate transferase, or a formate synthetase, wherein 3G is a formyl-CoA reductase, wherein 3H is a formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, wherein 3I is a methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase, wherein 3J is a methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, wherein 3K is a formaldehyde-forming enzyme or spontaneous, wherein 3L is a glycine cleavage system, wherein 3M is a serine hydroxymethyltransferase, wherein 3N is a serine deaminase, wherein 3O is a methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, wherein 3P is an acetyl-CoA synthase. In some embodiments, the formate assimilation pathway comprises (1) 3E. In some embodiments, the formate assimilation pathway comprises (2) 3F, and 3G. In some embodiments, the formate assimilation pathway comprises (3) 3H, 3I, 3J, and 3K. In some embodiments, the formate assimilation pathway comprises (4) 3H, 3I, 3J, 3L, 3M, and 3N. In some embodiments, the formate assimilation pathway comprises (5) 3E, 3H, 3I, 3J, 3L, 3M, and 3N. In some embodiments, the formate assimilation pathway comprises (6) 3F, 3G, 3H, 3I, 3J, 3L, 3M, and 3N. In some embodiments, the formate assimilation pathway comprises (7) 3K, 3H, 3I, 3J, 3L, 3M, and 3N. In some embodiments, the formate assimilation pathway comprises (8) 3H, 3I, 3J, 3O, and 3P.

In some aspects, the microbial organism has a formate assimilation pathway as described above wherein an enzyme of the formate assimilation pathway is encoded by at least one exogenous nucleic acid and is expressed in a sufficient amount to enhance carbon flux through acetyl-CoA. In some aspects, the microbial organism has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven or eight exogenous nucleic acids each encoding a formate assimilation pathway enzyme. In some aspects, the microbial organism has exogenous nucleic acids encoding each of the enzymes of at least one of the formate assimilation pathways described above selected from (1)-(8). In some aspects, the at least one exogenous nucleic acid is a heterologous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

In some aspects, the formate assimilation pathway as described above further includes: (1) 3Q; (2) 3R and 3S; (3) 3Y and 3Q; or (4) 3Y, 3R, and 3S, wherein 3Q is a pyruvate formate lyase, wherein 3R is a pyruvate dehydrogenase, a pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase, or a pyruvate:NADP+ oxidoreductase, wherein 3S is a formate dehydrogenase, wherein 3Y is a glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase or an enzyme of lower glycolysis. In some aspects, the formate assimilation pathway as described above further includes (1) 3Q. In some aspects, the formate assimilation pathway as described above further includes (2) 3R and 3S. In some aspects, the formate assimilation pathway as described above further includes (3) 3Y and 3Q. In some aspects, the formate assimilation pathway as described above further includes (4) 3Y, 3R, and 3S.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene pathway enzyme or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, wherein the butadiene pathway or the 2,4-pentadienoate pathway includes a pathway as described above, further having a methanol oxidation pathway having a methanol dehydrogenase as shown in FIG. 3. In some aspects, the microbial organism has at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a methanol oxidation pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce formaldehyde in the presence of methanol. In some aspects, the at least one exogenous nucleic acid is a heterologous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway having at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene pathway enzyme or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, wherein the butadiene pathway or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway includes a pathway as described above, further having a hydrogenase or carbon monoxide dehydrogenase. In some aspects, the microbial organism has at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding the hydrogenase or the carbon monoxide dehydrogenase. In some aspects, the at least one exogenous nucleic acid is a heterologous nucleic acid. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway as described herein, wherein the microbial organism further includes attenuation of one or more endogenous enzymes, which enhances carbon flux through acetyl-CoA. For example, in some aspects, the endogenous enzyme can be selected from DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, DHA synthase or any combination thereof. Accordingly, in some aspects, the attenuation is of the endogenous enzyme DHA kinase. In some aspects, the attenuation is of the endogenous enzyme methanol oxidase. In some aspects, the attenuation is of the endogenous enzyme PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase. In some aspects, the attenuation is of the endogenous enzyme DHA synthase. The invention also provides a microbial organism wherein attenuation is of any combination of two or three endogenous enzymes described herein. For example, a microbial organism of the invention can include attenuation of DHA kinase and DHA synthase, or alternatively methanol oxidase and PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, or alternatively DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, and PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, or alternatively DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, and DHA synthase. The invention also provides a microbial organism wherein attenuation is of all endogenous enzymes described herein. For example, in some aspects, a microbial organism described herein includes attenuation of DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase and DHA synthase.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway as described herein, wherein the microbial organism further includes attenuation of one or more endogenous enzymes of a competing formaldehyde assimilation or dissimilation pathway. Examples of these endogenous enzymes are disclosed in FIG. 3. It is understood that a person skilled in the art would be able to readily identify enzymes of such competing pathways. Competing pathways can be dependent upon the host microbial organism and/or the exogenous nucleic acid introduced into the microbial organism as described herein. Accordingly, in some aspects of the invention, the microbial organism includes attenuation of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or more endogenous enzymes of a competing formaldehyde assimilation or dissimilation pathway.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway as described herein, wherein the microbial organism further includes a gene disruption of one or more endogenous nucleic acids encoding enzymes, which enhances carbon flux through acetyl-CoA. For example, in some aspects, the endogenous enzyme can be selected from DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, DHA synthase or any combination thereof. According, in some aspects, the gene disruptiondisruption is of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding the enzyme DHA kinase. In some aspects, the gene disruptiondisruption is of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding the enzyme methanol oxidase. In some aspects, the gene disruptiondisruption is of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding the enzyme PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase. In some aspects, the gene disruption is of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding the enzyme DHA synthase. The invention also provides a microbial organism wherein the gene disruption is of any combination of two or three nucleic acids encoding endogenous enzymes described herein. For example, a microbial organism of the invention can include a gene disruption of DHA kinase and DHA synthase, or alternatively methanol oxidase and PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, or alternatively DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, and PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, or alternatively DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, and DHA synthase. The invention also provides a microbial organism wherein all endogenous nucleic acids encoding enzymes described herein are disrupted. For example, in some aspects, a microbial organism described herein includes disruption of DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase and DHA synthase.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate as described herein, wherein the microbial organism further includes a gene disruption of one or more endogenous enzymes of a competing formaldehyde assimilation or dissimilation pathway. Examples of these endogenous enzymes are disclosed in FIG. 3. It is understood that a person skilled in the art would be able to readily identify enzymes of such competing pathways. Competing pathways can be dependent upon the host microbial organism and/or the exogenous nucleic acid introduced into the microbial organism as described herein. Accordingly, in some aspects of the invention, the microbial organism includes a gene disruption of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or more endogenous nucleic acids encoding enzymes of a competing formaldehyde assimilation or dissimilation pathway.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene pathway or a 2,4-pentadienoate pathway as described herein, further having a hydrogen synthesis pathway catalyzing the synthesis of hydrogen from a reducing equivalent, said hydrogen synthesis pathway including an enzyme selected from the group consisting: a hydrogenase, a formate-hydrogene lyase, and ferredoxin: NADP+ oxidoreductase. In some aspects, the reducing equivalent is selected from the group consisting of NADH, NADPH, FADH, reduced quinones, reduced ferredoxins, reduced flavodoxins and reduced thioredoxins. In some aspects, the non-naturally occurring microbial organism has at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a hydrogen synthesis pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce hydrogen.

In an additional embodiment, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway, wherein the non-naturally occurring microbial organism has at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding an enzyme or protein that converts a substrate to a product selected from the group consisting of acetyl CoA to acetaldehyde, pyruvate to 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate, 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate to 2-oxopentenoate, 2-oxopentenoate to 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA, 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA to 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA, 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA to 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA, 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA to 2,4-pentadienoate, 2-oxopentenoate to 2-hydroxypentenoate, 2-hydroxypentenoatet to 2,4-pentadienoate, 2-hydroxypentenoate to 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA, acetyl-CoA to malonyl-CoA, malonyl-CoA to 3-Oxoglutaryl-CoA, 3-Oxoglutaryl-CoA to 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA to 3-hydroxyglutaryl-phosphate, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA to 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA to 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate, 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate to 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA to 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate to 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA to 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA, 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA to 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA, 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA to 2,4-pentadienoate, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate to 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate, 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate to 2,4-pentadienoate, 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate to 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA, 2,4-pentadienoate to butadiene. One skilled in the art will understand that these are merely exemplary and that any of the substrate-product pairs disclosed herein suitable to produce a desired product and for which an appropriate activity is available for the conversion of the substrate to the product can be readily determined by one skilled in the art based on the teachings herein. Thus, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism containing at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding an enzyme or protein, where the enzyme or protein converts the substrates and products of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway, such as that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

While generally described herein as a microbial organism that contains a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway, it is understood that the invention additionally provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism comprising at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme expressed in a sufficient amount to produce an intermediate of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway. For example, as disclosed herein, a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway is exemplified in FIGS. 1-2. Therefore, in addition to a microbial organism containing a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway that produces butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, the invention additionally provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism comprising at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme, where the microbial organism produces a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate, for example, 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate, 2-oxopentenoate, 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA, 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA, 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA, 2-hydroxypentenoate, malonyl-CoA, 3-Oxoglutaryl-CoA, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-phosphate, 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA, 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA, 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate, or 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate.

It is understood that any of the pathways disclosed herein, as described in the Examples and exemplified in the Figures, including the pathways of FIGS. 1-4, can be utilized to generate a non-naturally occurring microbial organism that produces any pathway intermediate or product, as desired. As disclosed herein, such a microbial organism that produces an intermediate can be used in combination with another microbial organism expressing downstream pathway enzymes to produce a desired product. However, it is understood that a non-naturally occurring microbial organism that produces a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate can be utilized to produce the intermediate as a desired product.

The invention is described herein with general reference to the metabolic reaction, reactant or product thereof, or with specific reference to one or more nucleic acids or genes encoding an enzyme associated with or catalyzing, or a protein associated with, the referenced metabolic reaction, reactant or product. Unless otherwise expressly stated herein, those skilled in the art will understand that reference to a reaction also constitutes reference to the reactants and products of the reaction. Similarly, unless otherwise expressly stated herein, reference to a reactant or product also references the reaction, and reference to any of these metabolic constituents also references the gene or genes encoding the enzymes that catalyze or proteins involved in the referenced reaction, reactant or product. Likewise, given the well known fields of metabolic biochemistry, enzymology and genomics, reference herein to a gene or encoding nucleic acid also constitutes a reference to the corresponding encoded enzyme and the reaction it catalyzes or a protein associated with the reaction as well as the reactants and products of the reaction.

As disclosed herein, the product 2,4-pentadienoate and intermediates pyruvate, 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate, 2-oxopentenoate, 2-hydroxypentenoate, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-phosphate, 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate, or 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate, as well as other intermediates, are carboxylic acids, which can occur in various ionized forms, including fully protonated, partially protonated, and fully deprotonated forms. Accordingly, the suffix “-ate,” or the acid form, can be used interchangeably to describe both the free acid form as well as any deprotonated form, in particular since the ionized form is known to depend on the pH in which the compound is found. It is understood that carboxylate products or intermediates includes ester forms of carboxylate products or pathway intermediates, such as O-carboxylate and S-carboxylate esters. O- and S-carboxylates can include lower alkyl, that is C1 to C6, branched or straight chain carboxylates. Some such O- or S-carboxylates include, without limitation, methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, n-butyl, i-propyl, sec-butyl, and tert-butyl, pentyl, hexyl O- or S-carboxylates, any of which can further possess an unsaturation, providing for example, propenyl, butenyl, pentyl, and hexenyl O- or S-carboxylates. O-carboxylates can be the product of a biosynthetic pathway. Exemplary O-carboxylates accessed via biosynthetic pathways can include, without limitation, methyl 2,4-pentadienoate, ethyl 2,4-pentadienoate, and n-propyl 2,4-pentadienoate. Other biosynthetically accessible O-carboxylates can include medium to long chain groups, that is C4-C22, O-carboxylate esters derived from fatty alcohols, such as butyl, pentanoyl, hexyl, heptyl, octyl, nonyl, decyl, undecyl, lauryl, tridecyl, myristyl, pentadecyl, cetyl, palmitolyl, heptadecyl, stearyl, nonadecyl, arachidyl, heneicosyl, and behenyl alcohols, any one of which can be optionally branched and/or contain unsaturations. O-carboxylate esters can also be accessed via a biochemical or chemical process, such as esterification of a free carboxylic acid product or transesterification of an O- or S-carboxylate. S-carboxylates are exemplified by CoA S-esters, cysteinyl S-esters, alkylthioesters, and various aryl and heteroaryl thioesters.

The non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention can be produced by introducing expressible nucleic acids encoding one or more of the enzymes or proteins participating in one or more butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathways. Depending on the host microbial organism chosen for biosynthesis, nucleic acids for some or all of a particular butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway can be expressed. For example, if a chosen host is deficient in one or more enzymes or proteins for a desired biosynthetic pathway, then expressible nucleic acids for the deficient enzyme(s) or protein(s) are introduced into the host for subsequent exogenous expression. Alternatively, if the chosen host exhibits endogenous expression of some pathway genes, but is deficient in others, then an encoding nucleic acid is needed for the deficient enzyme(s) or protein(s) to achieve butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthesis. Thus, a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention can be produced by introducing exogenous enzyme or protein activities to obtain a desired biosynthetic pathway or a desired biosynthetic pathway can be obtained by introducing one or more exogenous enzyme or protein activities that, together with one or more endogenous enzymes or proteins, produces a desired product such as butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate.

Host microbial organisms can be selected from, and the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms generated in, for example, bacteria, yeast, fungus or any of a variety of other microorganisms applicable or suitable to fermentation processes. Exemplary bacteria include any species selected from the order Enterobacteriales, family Enterobacteriaceae, including the genera Escherichia and Klebsiella; the order Aeromonadales, family Succinivibrionaceae, including the genus Anaerobiospirillum; the order Pasteurellales, family Pasteurellaceae, including the genera Actinobacillus and Mannheimia; the order Rhizobiales, family Bradyrhizobiaceae, including the genus Rhizobium; the order Bacillales, family Bacillaceae, including the genus Bacillus; the orderActinomycetales, families Corynebacteriaceae and Streptomycetaceae, including the genus Corynebacterium and the genus Streptomyces, respectively; order Rhodospirillales, family Acetobacteraceae, including the genus Gluconobacter; the order Sphingomonadales, family Sphingomonadaceae, including the genus Zymomonas; the order Lactobacillales, families Lactobacillaceae and Streptococcaceae, including the genus Lactobacillus and the genus Lactococcus, respectively; the order Clostridiales, family Clostridiaceae, genus Clostridium; and the order Pseudomonadales, family Pseudomonadaceae, including the genus Pseudomonas. Non-limiting species of host bacteria include Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens, Actinobacillus succinogenes, Mannheimia succiniciproducens, Rhizobium etli, Bacillus subtilis, Corynebacterium glutamicum, Gluconobacter oxydans, Zymomonas mobilis, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Streptomyces coelicolor, Clostridium acetobutylicum, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Pseudomonas putida.

Similarly, exemplary species of yeast or fungi species include any species selected from the order Saccharomycetales, family Saccaromycetaceae, including the genera Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces and Pichia; the order Saccharomycetales, family Dipodascaceae, including the genus Yarrowia; the order Schizosaccharomycetales, family Schizosaccaromycetaceae, including the genus Schizosaccharomyces; the order Eurotiales, family Trichocomaceae, including the genus Aspergillus; and the order Mucorales, family Mucoraceae, including the genus Rhizopus. Non-limiting species of host yeast or fungi include Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluyveromyces lactis, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus niger, Pichia pastoris, Rhizopus arrhizus, Rhizopus oryzae, Yarrowia lipolytica, and the like. E. coli is a particularly useful host organism since it is a well characterized microbial organism suitable for genetic engineering. Other particularly useful host organisms include yeast such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is understood that any suitable microbial host organism can be used to introduce metabolic and/or genetic modifications to produce a desired product.

Depending on the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway constituents of a selected host microbial organism, the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention will include at least one exogenously expressed butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway-encoding nucleic acid and up to all encoding nucleic acids for one or more butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathways. For example, butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthesis can be established in a host deficient in a pathway enzyme or protein through exogenous expression of the corresponding encoding nucleic acid. In a host deficient in all enzymes or proteins of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway, exogenous expression of all enzyme or proteins in the pathway can be included, although it is understood that all enzymes or proteins of a pathway can be expressed even if the host contains at least one of the pathway enzymes or proteins. For example, exogenous expression of all enzymes or proteins in a pathway for production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be included, such as an acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, a 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate dehydratase, a 2-oxopentenoate reductase, 2-hydroxypentenoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA hydrolase, and a 2,4-pentadienoate decarboxylase.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art will understand that the number of encoding nucleic acids to introduce in an expressible form will, at least, parallel the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway deficiencies of the selected host microbial organism. Therefore, a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention can have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, or eleven, up to all nucleic acids encoding the enzymes or proteins constituting a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms also can include other genetic modifications that facilitate or optimize butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthesis or that confer other useful functions onto the host microbial organism. One such other functionality can include, for example, augmentation of the synthesis of one or more of the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway precursors such as acetyl-CoA, pyruvate, or malonyl-CoA.

Generally, a host microbial organism is selected such that it produces the precursor of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway, either as a naturally produced molecule or as an engineered product that either provides de novo production of a desired precursor or increased production of a precursor naturally produced by the host microbial organism. For example, acetyl-CoA, pyruvate, and malonyl-CoA are produced naturally in a host organism such as E. coli. A host organism can be engineered to increase production of a precursor, as disclosed herein. In addition, a microbial organism that has been engineered to produce a desired precursor can be used as a host organism and further engineered to express enzymes or proteins of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway.

In some embodiments, a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention is generated from a host that contains the enzymatic capability to synthesize butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. In this specific embodiment it can be useful to increase the synthesis or accumulation of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway product to, for example, drive butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway reactions toward butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production. Increased synthesis or accumulation can be accomplished by, for example, overexpression of nucleic acids encoding one or more of the above-described butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzymes or proteins. Overexpression of the enzyme or enzymes and/or protein or proteins of the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway can occur, for example, through modification of an endogenous gene to overexpress the gene, exogenous expression of the endogenous gene or genes, or through exogenous expression of the heterologous gene or genes. Therefore, naturally occurring organisms can be readily generated to be non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention, for example, producing butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, through overexpression of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or eleven, that is, up to all nucleic acids encoding butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway enzymes or proteins. In addition, a non-naturally occurring organism can be generated by mutagenesis of an endogenous gene that results in an increase in activity of an enzyme in the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway. For example, the promoter region of an endogenous gene can be modified to increase the expression of the gene.

In particularly useful embodiments, exogenous expression of the encoding nucleic acids is employed. Exogenous expression confers the ability to custom tailor the expression and/or regulatory elements to the host and application to achieve a desired expression level that is controlled by the user. However, endogenous expression also can be utilized in other embodiments such as by removing a negative regulatory effector or induction of the gene's promoter when linked to an inducible promoter or other regulatory element. Thus, an endogenous gene having a naturally occurring inducible promoter can be up-regulated by providing the appropriate inducing agent, or the regulatory region of an endogenous gene can be engineered to incorporate an inducible regulatory element, thereby allowing the regulation of increased expression of an endogenous gene at a desired time. Similarly, an inducible promoter can be included as a regulatory element for an exogenous gene introduced into a non-naturally occurring microbial organism.

It is understood that, in methods of the invention, any of the one or more exogenous nucleic acids can be introduced into a microbial organism to produce a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention. The nucleic acids can be introduced so as to confer, for example, a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway onto the microbial organism. Alternatively, encoding nucleic acids can be introduced to produce an intermediate microbial organism having the biosynthetic capability to catalyze some of the required reactions to confer butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic capability. For example, a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway can comprise at least two exogenous nucleic acids encoding desired enzymes or proteins, such as the combination of 2-oxopentenoate ligase and 2,4-pentadienoate decarboxylase, or alternatively 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate dehydratase and 2,4-pentadienoate decarboxylase, or alternatively 2-hydroxypentenoate ligase and 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, or alternatively 2-hydroxypentenoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase and 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, or alternatively 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate ligase and 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA dehydratase, or alternatively 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate: acetyl-CoA CoA transferase and 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, or alternatively 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate ligase and 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA hydrolase, or alternatively 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase and 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA hydrolase, and the like. Thus, it is understood that any combination of two or more enzymes or proteins of a biosynthetic pathway can be included in a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention. Similarly, it is understood that any combination of three or more enzymes or proteins of a biosynthetic pathway can be included in a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention, for example, 2-oxopentenoate ligase, 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA reductase, and 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, or alternatively 2-hydroxypentenoate ligase, 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA dehydratase, and 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA hydrolase, or alternatively 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate ligase, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA dehydratase, 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA hydrolase, or alternatively 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate ligase, 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA hydrolase, and 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA:acetyl-CoA CoA transferase, and so forth, as desired, so long as the combination of enzymes and/or proteins of the desired biosynthetic pathway results in production of the corresponding desired product. Similarly, any combination of four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven or more enzymes or proteins of a biosynthetic pathway as disclosed herein can be included in a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention, as desired, so long as the combination of enzymes and/or proteins of the desired biosynthetic pathway results in production of the corresponding desired product.

In addition to the biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate as described herein, the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms and methods of the invention also can be utilized in various combinations with each other and/or with other microbial organisms and methods well known in the art to achieve product biosynthesis by other routes. For example, one alternative to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate other than use of the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producers is through addition of another microbial organism capable of converting a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate to butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. One such procedure includes, for example, the fermentation of a microbial organism that produces a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate. The butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate can then be used as a substrate for a second microbial organism that converts the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate to butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. The butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate can be added directly to another culture of the second organism or the original culture of the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate producers can be depleted of these microbial organisms by, for example, cell separation, and then subsequent addition of the second organism to the fermentation broth can be utilized to produce the final product without intermediate purification steps.

In other embodiments, the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms and methods of the invention can be assembled in a wide variety of subpathways to achieve biosynthesis of, for example, butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. In these embodiments, biosynthetic pathways for a desired product of the invention can be segregated into different microbial organisms, and the different microbial organisms can be co-cultured to produce the final product. In such a biosynthetic scheme, the product of one microbial organism is the substrate for a second microbial organism until the final product is synthesized. For example, the biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be accomplished by constructing a microbial organism that contains biosynthetic pathways for conversion of one pathway intermediate to another pathway intermediate or the product. Alternatively, butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate also can be biosynthetically produced from microbial organisms through co-culture or co-fermentation using two organisms in the same vessel, where the first microbial organism produces a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate intermediate and the second microbial organism converts the intermediate to butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art will understand that a wide variety of combinations and permutations exist for the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms and methods of the invention together with other microbial organisms, with the co-culture of other non-naturally occurring microbial organisms having subpathways and with combinations of other chemical and/or biochemical procedures well known in the art to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate.

Similarly, it is understood by those skilled in the art that a host organism can be selected based on desired characteristics for introduction of one or more gene disruptions to increase production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. Thus, it is understood that, if a genetic modification is to be introduced into a host organism to disrupt a gene, any hom*ologs, orthologs or paralogs that catalyze similar, yet non-identical metabolic reactions can similarly be disrupted to ensure that a desired metabolic reaction is sufficiently disrupted. Because certain differences exist among metabolic networks between different organisms, those skilled in the art will understand that the actual genes disrupted in a given organism may differ between organisms. However, given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art also will understand that the methods of the invention can be applied to any suitable host microorganism to identify the cognate metabolic alterations needed to construct an organism in a species of interest that will increase butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthesis. In a particular embodiment, the increased production couples biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate to growth of the organism, and can obligatorily couple production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate to growth of the organism if desired and as disclosed herein.

Sources of encoding nucleic acids for a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme or protein can include, for example, any species where the encoded gene product is capable of catalyzing the referenced reaction. Such species include both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms including, but not limited to, bacteria, including archaea and eubacteria, and eukaryotes, including yeast, plant, insect, animal, and mammal, including human. Exemplary species for such sources include, for example, Escherichia coli, Acidaminococcus fermentans, Acinetobacter baumannii Naval-82, Acinetobacter baylyi, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Acinetobacter sp. Strain M-1, Actinobacillus succinogenes 130Z, Allochromatium vinosum DSM 180, Aminomonas aminovorus, Anaerotruncus colihominis, Aquifex aeolicus VF5, Arabidopsis thaliana, Archaeglubus fulgidus, Archaeoglobus fulgidus DSM 4304, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus terreus, Azotobacter vinelandii DJ Bacillus alcalophilus ATCC 27647, Bacillus azotoformans LMG 9581, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus coagulans 36D1, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus methanolicus MGA3, Bacillus methanolicus PB1, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus selenitireducens MLS10, Bacillus smithii, Bacillus sphaericus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacteroides capillosus, Bifidobacterium animalis lactis, Bifidobacterium breve, Biflidobacterium dentium ATCC 27678, Bifidobacterium pseudolongum subsp. Globosum, Bos taurus, Burkholderia ambifaria AMMD, Burkholderia phymatum, Burkholderia stabilis, Burkholderia thailandensis E264, Burkholderia xenovorans, Burkholderia xenovorans LB400, butyrate-producing bacterium L2-50, Campylobacter curvus 525.92, Campylobacter jejuni, Candida albicans, Candida boidinii, Candida methylica, Candida tropicalis, Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans, Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans Z-2901, Caulobacter sp. AP07, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Chloroflexus aurantiacus, Chlorobium phaeobacteroides DSM 266, Chloroflexus aurantiacus J-10-fl, Chloroflexus aggregans DSM 9485, Citrobacter koseri ATCCBAA-895, Clostridium acetobutylicum, Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824, Clostridium acidurici, Clostridium aminobutyricum, Clostridium beijerinckii, Clostridium beijerinckii NRRL B593, Clostridium carboxidivorans P7, Clostridium cellulolyticum H10, Clostridium difficile, Clostridium kluyveri, Clostridium kluyveri DSM 555, Clostridium ljungdahli, Clostridium ljungdahlii DSM 13528, Clostridium pasteurianum, Clostridium pasteurianum DSM 525, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium perfringens ATCC 13124, Clostridium perfringens str. 13, Clostridium propionicum, Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum, Clostridium sporogens, Clostridum symbiosum, Clostridium tetani, Comamonas sp. CNB-1, Corynebacterium sp. U-96, Corynebacterium glutamicum, Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13032, Corynebacterium glutamicum R, Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 14067, Corynebacterium variabile, Cupriavidus necator, Cupriavidus necator N-1, Cupriavidus taiwanensis, Cyanobium PCC7001, Deinococcus radiodurans R1, Desulfovibrio africanus str. Walvis Bay, Desulfovibrio fructosovorans JJ, Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans AK-O1, Desulfitobacterium hafniense, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans subsp. desulfuricans str. ATCC 27774, Desulfitobacterium metallireducens DSM 15288, Desulfotomaculum reducens MI-1, Dictyostelium discoideum AX4, Elizabethkingia meningoseptica, Erythrobacter sp. NAP1, Escherichia coli C, Escherichia coli K12, Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655, Escherichia coli W, Eubacterium barkeri, Flavobacterium frigoris, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Geobacter bemidjiensis Bem, Geobacter metallireducens GS-15, Geobacillus sp. GHH01, Geobacillus sp. M10EXG, Geobacillus sp. Y4.1MC1, Geobacillus stearothermophilus, Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius, Geobacillus themodenitrificans NG80-2, Geobacillus sp. Y4.1MC1, Geobacter sulfurreducens, Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA, Gibberella zeae, Haemophilus influenza, Haloarcula marismortui, Haloarcula marismortui ATCC 43049, Haloferax mediterranei ATCC 33500, Helicobacter pylori, hom*o sapiens, Human gut metagenome, Hydrogenobacter thermophilus, Hydrogenobacter thermophilus TK-6, Hyphomicrobium denitrificans ATCC 51888, Hyphomicrobium zavarzinii, Kineococcus radiotolerans, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumonia, Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae MGH 78578, Kluyveromyces lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus brevis ATCC 367, Lactobacillus paraplantarum, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus sp. 30a, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lysinibacillus fusiformis, Marine metagenome JCVI SCAF 1096627185304, Marinobacter aquaeolei, Marine gamma proteobacterium HTCC2080, Mesorhizobium loti MAFF303099, Methanosarcina acetivorans C2A, Metallosphaera sedula, Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus, Methanosarcina mazei Tuc01, Methylomonas aminofaciens, Methylobacterium extorquens, Methylobacterium extorquens AM1, Methylobacillus flagellates, Methylobacillus flagellatus KT, Methylovorus glucosetrophus SIP3-4, Methylobacter marinus, Methylococcus capsulatis, Methylomicrobium album BG8, Microlunatus phosphovorus NM-1, Methylovorus sp. MP688, Methylovorus glucosetrophus SIP3-4, Moorella thermoacetica, Mus musculus, Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium avium subsp., Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis K-10, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, Mycobacterium gastri, Mycobacterium marinum M, Mycobacterium smegm*tis, Mycobacterium smegm*tis MC2 155, Mycobacter sp. strain JC1 DSM 3803, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Natranaerobius thermophilus, Neosartorya fischeri, Nicotiana glutinosa, Nitrososphaera gargensis Ga9.2, Nocardia farcinica IFM 10152, Nocardia iowensis (sp. NRRL 5646), Nostoc sp. PCC7120, Ogataea parapolymorpha DL-1 (Hansenula polymorpha DL-1), Oryctolagus cuniculus, Oxalobacter formigenes, Paenibacillus peoriae KCTC 3763, Paracoccus denitrificans, Pedicoccus pentosaceus, Pelobacter carbinolicus DSM2380, Pelotomaculum thermopropionicum, Penicillium chrysogenum, Photobacterium phosphoreum, Photobacterium profundum 3TCK, Pichia pastoris, Pichia stipitis, Picrophilus torridus DSM9790, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Porphyromonas gingivalis W83, Pratuberculosis, Propionibacterium acidipropionici ATCC 4875, Propionibacterium acnes KPA171202, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA01, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas fluorescens KU-7, Pseudomonas knackmussii (B13), Pseudomonas mendocina, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas putida KT2440, Pseudomonas sp, Pseudomonas sp. CF600, Pseudomonas syringaepv. syringae B728a, Psychroflexus torquis ATCC 700755, Pyrobaculum aerophilum str. IM2, Pyrococcus abyssi, Pyrococcus furiosus, Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3, Pyrobaculum islandicum DSM 4184, Ralstonia eutropha, Ralstonia eutropha H16, Ralstonia eutropha JMP134, Ralstonia metallidurans, Ralstonia pickettii, Rattus norvegicus, Rhizobium leguminosarum, Rhodobacter capsulatus, Rhodobacter sphaeroides, Rhodobacter sphaeroides ATCC 17025, Rhodococcus ruber, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009, Rhodospirillum rubrum, Roseiflexus castenholzii, Saccharomyces cerevisae, Saccharomyces cerevisiae S288c, Salinispora arenicola, Salmonella enterica, Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella typhimurium LT2, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium str. LT2, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Selenomonas ruminantium, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, Simmondsia chinensis, Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021, Streptomyces griseus subsp. griseus NBRC 13350, Streptococcus pyogenes ATCC 10782, Sulfolobus acidocalarius, Sulfolobus solfataricus, Sulfolobus solfataricus P-2, Sulfolobus tokodaii, Synechocystis str. PCC 6803, Syntrophobacter fumaroxidans, Syntrophus aciditrophicus, Thauera aromatic, Thermoanaerobacter brockii HTD4, Thermoanaerobacter sp. X514, Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis MB4, Thermococcus kodakaraensis, Thermococcus litoralis, Thermoplasma acidophilum, Thermoproteus neutrophilus, Thermotoga maritima, Thermus thermophilus, Thiocapsa roseopersicina Trichom*onas vagin*lis G3, Trypanosoma brucei, Tsukamurella paurometabola DSM 20162, Vibrio cholera, Vibrio harveyi ATCC BAA-1116, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, Xanthobacter autotrophicus Py2, Yarrowia lipolytica, Yersinia pestis, Zea mays, Zoogloea ramigera, Zymomonas mobilis, as well as other exemplary species disclosed herein or available as source organisms for corresponding genes. However, with the complete genome sequence available for now more than 550 species (with more than half of these available on public databases such as the NCBI), including 395 microorganism genomes and a variety of yeast, fungi, plant, and mammalian genomes, the identification of genes encoding the requisite butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic activity for one or more genes in related or distant species, including for example, hom*ologues, orthologs, paralogs and nonorthologous gene displacements of known genes, and the interchange of genetic alterations between organisms is routine and well known in the art. Accordingly, the metabolic alterations allowing biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate described herein with reference to a particular organism such as E. coli can be readily applied to other microorganisms, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms alike. Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art will know that a metabolic alteration exemplified in one organism can be applied equally to other organisms.

In some instances, such as when an alternative butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway exists in an unrelated species, butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthesis can be conferred onto the host species by, for example, exogenous expression of a paralog or paralogs from the unrelated species that catalyzes a similar, yet non-identical metabolic reaction to replace the referenced reaction. Because certain differences among metabolic networks exist between different organisms, those skilled in the art will understand that the actual gene usage between different organisms may differ. However, given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art also will understand that the teachings and methods of the invention can be applied to all microbial organisms using the cognate metabolic alterations to those exemplified herein to construct a microbial organism in a species of interest that will synthesize butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate.

A nucleic acid molecule encoding a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme or protein of the invention can also include a nucleic acid molecule that hybridizes to a nucleic acid disclosed herein by SEQ ID NO, GenBank and/or GI number or a nucleic acid molecule that hybridizes to a nucleic acid molecule that encodes an amino acid sequence disclosed herein by SEQ ID NO, GenBank and/or GI number. Hybridization conditions can include highly stringent, moderately stringent, or low stringency hybridization conditions that are well known to one of skill in the art such as those described herein. Similarly, a nucleic acid molecule that can be used in the invention can be described as having a certain percent sequence identity to a nucleic acid disclosed herein by SEQ ID NO, GenBank and/or GI number or a nucleic acid molecule that hybridizes to a nucleic acid molecule that encodes an amino acid sequence disclosed herein by SEQ ID NO, GenBank and/or GI number. For example, the nucleic acid molecule can have at least 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% sequence identity, or be identical, to a nucleic acid described herein.

Stringent hybridization refers to conditions under which hybridized polynucleotides are stable. As known to those of skill in the art, the stability of hybridized polynucleotides is reflected in the melting temperature (T_m) of the hybrids. In general, the stability of hybridized polynucleotides is a function of the salt concentration, for example, the sodium ion concentration and temperature. A hybridization reaction can be performed under conditions of lower stringency, followed by washes of varying, but higher, stringency. Reference to hybridization stringency relates to such washing conditions. Highly stringent hybridization includes conditions that permit hybridization of only those nucleic acid sequences that form stable hybridized polynucleotides in 0.018M NaCl at 65° C., for example, if a hybrid is not stable in 0.018M NaCl at 65° C., it will not be stable under high stringency conditions, as contemplated herein. High stringency conditions can be provided, for example, by hybridization in 50% formamide, 5×Denhart's solution, 5×SSPE, 0.2% SDS at 42° C., followed by washing in 0.1×SSPE, and 0.1% SDS at 65° C. Hybridization conditions other than highly stringent hybridization conditions can also be used to describe the nucleic acid sequences disclosed herein. For example, the phrase moderately stringent hybridization refers to conditions equivalent to hybridization in 50% formamide, 5×Denhart's solution, 5×SSPE, 0.2% SDS at 42° C., followed by washing in 0.2×SSPE, 0.2% SDS, at 42° C. The phrase low stringency hybridization refers to conditions equivalent to hybridization in 10% formamide, 5×Denhart's solution, 6×SSPE, 0.2% SDS at 22° C., followed by washing in 1×SSPE, 0.2% SDS, at 37° C. Denhart's solution contains 1% Ficoll, 1% polyvinylpyrolidone, and 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA). 20×SSPE (sodium chloride, sodium phosphate, ethylene diamide tetraacetic acid (EDTA)) contains 3M sodium chloride, 0.2M sodium phosphate, and 0.025 M (EDTA). Other suitable low, moderate and high stringency hybridization buffers and conditions are well known to those of skill in the art and are described, for example, in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Third Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York (2001); and Ausubel et al., Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley and Sons, Baltimore, Md. (1999).

A nucleic acid molecule encoding a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme or protein of the invention can have at least a certain sequence identity to a nucleotide sequence disclosed herein. According, in some aspects of the invention, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme or protein has a nucleotide sequence of at least 65% identity, at least 70% identity, at least 75% identity, at least 80% identity, at least 85% identity, at least 90% identity, at least 91% identity, at least 92% identity, at least 93% identity, at least 94% identity, at least 95% identity, at least 96% identity, at least 97% identity, at least 98% identity, or at least 99% identity, or is identical, to a nucleic acid disclosed herein by SEQ ID NO, GenBank and/or GI number or a nucleic acid molecule that hybridizes to a nucleic acid molecule that encodes an amino acid sequence disclosed herein by SEQ ID NO, GenBank and/or GI number.

Sequence identity (also known as hom*ology or similarity) refers to sequence similarity between two nucleic acid molecules or between two polypeptides. Identity can be determined by comparing a position in each sequence, which may be aligned for purposes of comparison. When a position in the compared sequence is occupied by the same base or amino acid, then the molecules are identical at that position. A degree of identity between sequences is a function of the number of matching or hom*ologous positions shared by the sequences. The alignment of two sequences to determine their percent sequence identity can be done using software programs known in the art, such as, for example, those described in Ausubel et al., Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley and Sons, Baltimore, Md. (1999). Preferably, default parameters are used for the alignment. One alignment program well known in the art that can be used is BLAST set to default parameters. In particular, programs are BLASTN and BLASTP, using the following default parameters: Genetic code=standard; filter=none; strand=both; cutoff=60; expect=10; Matrix=BLOSUM62; Descriptions=50 sequences; sort by=HIGH SCORE; Databases=non-redundant, GenBank+EMBL+DDBJ+PDB+GenBank CDS translations+SwissProtein+SPupdate+PIR. Details of these programs can be found at the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Methods for constructing and testing the expression levels of a non-naturally occurring butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate—producing host can be performed, for example, by recombinant and detection methods well known in the art. Such methods can be found described in, for example, Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Third Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York (2001); and Ausubel et al., Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley and Sons, Baltimore, Md. (1999).

Exogenous nucleic acid sequences involved in a pathway for production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be introduced stably or transiently into a host cell using techniques well known in the art including, but not limited to, conjugation, electroporation, chemical transformation, transduction, transfection, and ultrasound transformation. For exogenous expression in E. coli or other prokaryotic cells, some nucleic acid sequences in the genes or cDNAs of eukaryotic nucleic acids can encode targeting signals such as an N-terminal mitochondrial or other targeting signal, which can be removed before transformation into prokaryotic host cells, if desired. For example, removal of a mitochondrial leader sequence led to increased expression in E. coli (Hoffmeister et al., J. Biol. Chem. 280:4329-4338 (2005)). For exogenous expression in yeast or other eukaryotic cells, genes can be expressed in the cytosol without the addition of leader sequence, or can be targeted to mitochondrion or other organelles, or targeted for secretion, by the addition of a suitable targeting sequence such as a mitochondrial targeting or secretion signal suitable for the host cells. Thus, it is understood that appropriate modifications to a nucleic acid sequence to remove or include a targeting sequence can be incorporated into an exogenous nucleic acid sequence to impart desirable properties. Furthermore, genes can be subjected to codon optimization with techniques well known in the art to achieve optimized expression of the proteins.

An expression vector or vectors can be constructed to include one or more butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathway encoding nucleic acids as exemplified herein operably linked to expression control sequences functional in the host organism. Expression vectors applicable for use in the microbial host organisms of the invention include, for example, plasmids, phage vectors, viral vectors, episomes and artificial chromosomes, including vectors and selection sequences or markers operable for stable integration into a host chromosome. Additionally, the expression vectors can include one or more selectable marker genes and appropriate expression control sequences. Selectable marker genes also can be included that, for example, provide resistance to antibiotics or toxins, complement auxotrophic deficiencies, or supply critical nutrients not in the culture media. Expression control sequences can include constitutive and inducible promoters, transcription enhancers, transcription terminators, and the like which are well known in the art. When two or more exogenous encoding nucleic acids are to be co-expressed, both nucleic acids can be inserted, for example, into a single expression vector or in separate expression vectors. For single vector expression, the encoding nucleic acids can be operationally linked to one common expression control sequence or linked to different expression control sequences, such as one inducible promoter and one constitutive promoter. The transformation of exogenous nucleic acid sequences involved in a metabolic or synthetic pathway can be confirmed using methods well known in the art. Such methods include, for example, nucleic acid analysis such as Northern blots or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of mRNA, or immunoblotting for expression of gene products, or other suitable analytical methods to test the expression of an introduced nucleic acid sequence or its corresponding gene product. It is understood by those skilled in the art that the exogenous nucleic acid is expressed in a sufficient amount to produce the desired product, and it is further understood that expression levels can be optimized to obtain sufficient expression using methods well known in the art and as disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, the present invention provides a method for producing butadiene including culturing a non-naturally occurring microbial organism disclosed herein under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce butadiene. In some aspects, the method further includes separating the butadiene from other components in the culture.

In some embodiments, the present invention provides a method for producing butadiene and hydrogen including culturing a non-naturally occurring microbial organism disclosed herein under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce butadiene and hydrogen. In some aspects, the method further includes separating the butadiene and hydrogen from other components in the culture. In some aspects, the hydrogen is separated by shaking.

In some embodiments, the present invention provides a method for producing 2,4-pentadienoate including culturing a non-naturally occurring microbial organism disclosed herein under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce 2,4-pentadienoate. In some aspects, the method further includes separating the 2,4-pentadienoate from other components in the culture.

In some embodiments, the present invention provides a method for producing 2,4-pentadienoate and hydrogen including culturing a non-naturally occurring microbial organism disclosed herein under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce 2,4-pentadienoate and hydrogen. In some aspects, the method further includes separating the 2,4-pentadienoate and hydrogen from other components in the culture. In some aspects, the hydrogen is separated by shaking.

Suitable purification and/or assays to test for the production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be performed using well known methods. Suitable replicates such as triplicate cultures can be grown for each engineered strain to be tested. For example, product and byproduct formation in the engineered production host can be monitored. The final product and intermediates, and other organic compounds, can be analyzed by methods such as HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography), GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy) and LC-MS (Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy) or other suitable analytical methods using routine procedures well known in the art. The release of product in the fermentation broth can also be tested with the culture supernatant. Byproducts and residual glucose can be quantified by HPLC using, for example, a refractive index detector for glucose and alcohols, and a UV detector for organic acids (Lin et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 90:775-779 (2005)), or other suitable assay and detection methods well known in the art. The individual enzyme or protein activities from the exogenous DNA sequences can also be assayed using methods well known in the art. As described herein, Headspace GCMS analysis can be carried out on a 7890A GC with 5975C inert MSD using a GS-GASPRO column, 30m×0.32 mm (Agilent Technologies). Static headspace sample introduction can be performed on a CombiPAL autosampler (CTC Analytics) following 2 min incubation at 45° C.

The butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be separated from other components in the culture using a variety of methods well known in the art. Such separation methods include, for example, extraction procedures as well as methods that include continuous liquid-liquid extraction, pervaporation, membrane filtration, membrane separation, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, distillation, crystallization, centrifugation, extractive filtration, ion exchange chromatography, size exclusion chromatography, adsorption chromatography, and ultrafiltration. All of the above methods are well known in the art. Additionally, because butadiene can be a gas at fermentation temperatures, it can also be separated and capture accordingly. Exemplary methods to separate and capture gaseous butadiene are described herein.

Any of the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms described herein can be cultured to produce and/or secrete the biosynthetic products of the invention. For example, the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producers can be cultured for the biosynthetic production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the invention provides culture medium containing the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate described herein. In some aspects, the culture medium can also be separated from the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention that produced the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate. Methods for separating a microbial organism from culture medium are well known in the art. Exemplary methods include filtration, flocculation, precipitation, centrifugation, sedimentation, and the like.

For the production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, the recombinant strains are cultured in a medium with carbon source and other essential nutrients. It is sometimes desirable and can be highly desirable to maintain anaerobic conditions in the fermenter to reduce the cost of the overall process. Such conditions can be obtained, for example, by first sparging the medium with nitrogen and then sealing the flasks with a septum and crimp-cap. For strains where growth is not observed anaerobically, microaerobic or substantially anaerobic conditions can be applied by perforating the septum with a small hole for limited aeration. Exemplary anaerobic conditions have been described previously and are well-known in the art. Exemplary aerobic and anaerobic conditions are described, for example, in United State publication 2009/0047719, filed Aug. 10, 2007. Fermentations can be performed in a batch, fed-batch or continuous manner, as disclosed herein. Fermentations can also be conducted in two phases, if desired. The first phase can be aerobic to allow for high growth and therefore high productivity, followed by an anaerobic phase of high butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate yields.

If desired, the pH of the medium can be maintained at a desired pH, in particular neutral pH, such as a pH of around 7 by addition of a base, such as NaOH or other bases, or acid, as needed to maintain the culture medium at a desirable pH. The growth rate can be determined by measuring optical density using a spectrophotometer (600 nm), and the glucose uptake rate by monitoring carbon source depletion over time.

The growth medium can include, for example, any carbohydrate source which can supply a source of carbon to the non-naturally occurring microorganism. Such sources include, for example: sugars such as glucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, fructose, sucrose, starch, methanol, syngas, or glycerol, and it is understood that a carbon source can be used alone as the sole source of carbon or in combination with other carbon sources described herein or known in the art. Other sources of carbohydrate include, for example, renewable feedstocks and biomass. Exemplary types of biomasses that can be used as feedstocks in the methods of the invention include cellulosic biomass, hemicellulosic biomass and lignin feedstocks or portions of feedstocks. Such biomass feedstocks contain, for example, carbohydrate substrates useful as carbon sources such as glucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, fructose and starch. Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art will understand that renewable feedstocks and biomass other than those exemplified above also can be used for culturing the microbial organisms of the invention for the production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate.

In addition to the feedstocks, including the renewable feedstocks such as those exemplified above, the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate microbial organisms of the invention also can be modified for growth on syngas as its source of carbon or on methane. In this specific embodiment, one or more proteins or enzymes are expressed in the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producing organisms to provide a metabolic pathway for utilization of syngas, methane or other gaseous carbon source. In the case of methane the organism can be a natural methanotroph including those mentioned herein, or a non-methanotroph such as E. coli that is genetically engineered to use methane such as by expression of methane monooxygenase (MMO), the methanol produced can be utilized as described herein.

Synthesis gas, also known as syngas or producer gas, is the major product of gasification of coal and of carbonaceous materials such as biomass materials, including agricultural crops and residues. Syngas is a mixture primarily of H₂ and CO and can be obtained from the gasification of any organic feedstock, including but not limited to coal, coal oil, natural gas, biomass, and waste organic matter. Gasification is generally carried out under a high fuel to oxygen ratio. Although largely H₂ and CO, syngas can also include CO₂ and other gases in smaller quantities. Thus, synthesis gas provides a cost effective source of gaseous carbon such as CO and, additionally, CO₂.

The Wood-Ljungdahl pathway catalyzes the conversion of CO and H₂ to acetyl-CoA and other products such as acetate. Organisms capable of utilizing CO and syngas also generally have the capability of utilizing CO₂ and COH₂ mixtures through the same basic set of enzymes and transformations encompassed by the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway. H₂-dependent conversion of CO₂ to acetate by microorganisms was recognized long before it was revealed that CO also could be used by the same organisms and that the same pathways were involved. Many acetogens have been shown to grow in the presence of CO₂ and produce compounds such as acetate as long as hydrogen is present to supply the necessary reducing equivalents (see for example, Drake, Acetogenesis, pp. 3-60 Chapman and Hall, New York, (1994)). This can be summarized by the following equation:
2CO₂+4H₂+nADP+nPi→CH₃COOH+2H₂O+nATP

Hence, non-naturally occurring microorganisms possessing the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway can utilize CO₂ and H₂ mixtures as well for the production of acetyl-CoA and other desired products.

The Wood-Ljungdahl pathway is well known in the art and consists of 12 reactions which can be separated into two branches: (1) methyl branch and (2) carbonyl branch. The methyl branch converts syngas to methyl-tetrahydrofolate (methyl-THF) whereas the carbonyl branch converts methyl-THF to acetyl-CoA. The reactions in the methyl branch are catalyzed in order by the following enzymes or proteins: ferredoxin oxidoreductase, formate dehydrogenase, formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclodehydratase, methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase. The reactions in the carbonyl branch are catalyzed in order by the following enzymes or proteins: methyltetrahydrofolate:corrinoid protein methyltransferase (for example, AcsE), corrinoid iron-sulfur protein, nickel-protein assembly protein (for example, AcsF), ferredoxin, acetyl-CoA synthase, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase and nickel-protein assembly protein (for example, CooC). Following the teachings and guidance provided herein for introducing a sufficient number of encoding nucleic acids to generate a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway, those skilled in the art will understand that the same engineering design also can be performed with respect to introducing at least the nucleic acids encoding the Wood-Ljungdahl enzymes or proteins absent in the host organism. Therefore, introduction of one or more encoding nucleic acids into the microbial organisms of the invention such that the modified organism contains the complete Wood-Ljungdahl pathway will confer syngas utilization ability.

Additionally, the reductive (reverse) tricarboxylic acid cycle coupled with carbon monoxide dehydrogenase and/or hydrogenase activities can also be used for the conversion of CO, CO₂ and/or H₂ to acetyl-CoA and other products such as acetate. Organisms capable of fixing carbon via the reductive TCA pathway can utilize one or more of the following enzymes: ATP citrate-lyase, citrate lyase, aconitase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, alpha-ketoglutarate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase, succinyl-CoA synthetase, succinyl-CoA transferase, fumarate reductase, fumarase, malate dehydrogenase, NAD(P)H:ferredoxin oxidoreductase, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, and hydrogenase. Specifically, the reducing equivalents extracted from CO and/or H₂ by carbon monoxide dehydrogenase and hydrogenase are utilized to fix CO₂ via the reductive TCA cycle into acetyl-CoA or acetate. Acetate can be converted to acetyl-CoA by enzymes such as acetyl-CoA transferase, acetate kinase/phosphotransacetylase, and acetyl-CoA synthetase. Acetyl-CoA can be converted to the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate precursors, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, phosphoenolpyruvate, and pyruvate, by pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase and the enzymes of gluconeogenesis. Following the teachings and guidance provided herein for introducing a sufficient number of encoding nucleic acids to generate a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway, those skilled in the art will understand that the same engineering design also can be performed with respect to introducing at least the nucleic acids encoding the reductive TCA pathway enzymes or proteins absent in the host organism. Therefore, introduction of one or more encoding nucleic acids into the microbial organisms of the invention such that the modified organism contains a reductive TCA pathway can confer syngas utilization ability.

Accordingly, given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art will understand that a non-naturally occurring microbial organism can be produced that secretes the biosynthesized compounds of the invention when grown on a carbon source such as a carbohydrate. Such compounds include, for example, butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate and any of the intermediate metabolites in the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway. All that is required is to engineer in one or more of the required enzyme or protein activities to achieve biosynthesis of the desired compound or intermediate including, for example, inclusion of some or all of the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthetic pathways. Accordingly, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism that produces and/or secretes butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate when grown on a carbohydrate or other carbon source and produces and/or secretes any of the intermediate metabolites shown in the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway when grown on a carbohydrate or other carbon source. The butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producing microbial organisms of the invention can initiate synthesis from an intermediate, for example, 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate, 2-oxopentenoate, 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA, 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA, 2,4-Pentadienoyl-CoA, 2-hydroxypentenoate, malonyl-CoA, 3-Oxoglutaryl-CoA, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-phosphate, 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA, 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA, 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate, or 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate.

The non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention are constructed using methods well known in the art as exemplified herein to exogenously express at least one nucleic acid encoding a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme or protein in sufficient amounts to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. It is understood that the microbial organisms of the invention are cultured under conditions sufficient to produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. Following the teachings and guidance provided herein, the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention can achieve biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate resulting in intracellular concentrations between about 0.01-200 mM or more. Generally, the intracellular concentration of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate is between about 3-150 mM, particularly between about 5-125 mM and more particularly between about 8-100 mM, including about 10 mM, 20 mM, 50 mM, 80 mM, or more. Intracellular concentrations between and above each of these exemplary ranges also can be achieved from the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention.

In some embodiments, culture conditions include anaerobic or substantially anaerobic growth or maintenance conditions. Exemplary anaerobic conditions have been described previously and are well known in the art. Exemplary anaerobic conditions for fermentation processes are described herein and are described, for example, in U.S. publication 2009/0047719, filed Aug. 10, 2007. Any of these conditions can be employed with the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms as well as other anaerobic conditions well known in the art. Under such anaerobic or substantially anaerobic conditions, the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producers can synthesize butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate at intracellular concentrations of 5-10 mM or more as well as all other concentrations exemplified herein. It is understood that, even though the above description refers to intracellular concentrations, butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producing microbial organisms can produce butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate intracellularly and/or secrete the product into the culture medium.

Exemplary fermentation processes include, but are not limited to, fed-batch fermentation and batch separation; fed-batch fermentation and continuous separation; and continuous fermentation and continuous separation. In an exemplary batch fermentation protocol, the production organism is grown in a suitably sized bioreactor sparged with an appropriate gas. Under anaerobic conditions, the culture is sparged with an inert gas or combination of gases, for example, nitrogen, N₂/CO₂ mixture, argon, helium, and the like. As the cells grow and utilize the carbon source, additional carbon source(s) and/or other nutrients are fed into the bioreactor at a rate approximately balancing consumption of the carbon source and/or nutrients. The temperature of the bioreactor is maintained at a desired temperature, generally in the range of 22-37 degrees C., but the temperature can be maintained at a higher or lower temperature depending on the growth characteristics of the production organism and/or desired conditions for the fermentation process. Growth continues for a desired period of time to achieve desired characteristics of the culture in the fermenter, for example, cell density, product concentration, and the like. In a batch fermentation process, the time period for the fermentation is generally in the range of several hours to several days, for example, 8 to 24 hours, or 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 days, or up to a week, depending on the desired culture conditions. The pH can be controlled or not, as desired, in which case a culture in which pH is not controlled will typically decrease to pH 3-6 by the end of the run Upon completion of the cultivation period, the fermenter contents can be passed through a cell separation unit, for example, a centrifuge, filtration unit, and the like, to remove cells and cell debris. In the case where the desired product is expressed intracellularly, the cells can be lysed or disrupted enzymatically or chemically prior to or after separation of cells from the fermentation broth, as desired, in order to release additional product. The fermentation broth can be transferred to a product separations unit. Isolation of product occurs by standard separations procedures employed in the art to separate a desired product from dilute aqueous solutions. Such methods include, but are not limited to, liquid-liquid extraction using a water immiscible organic solvent (e.g., toluene or other suitable solvents, including but not limited to diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, tetrahydrofuran (THF), methylene chloride, chloroform, benzene, pentane, hexane, heptane, petroleum ether, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), dioxane, dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and the like) to provide an organic solution of the product, if appropriate, standard distillation methods, and the like, depending on the chemical characteristics of the product of the fermentation process.

In an exemplary fully continuous fermentation protocol, the production organism is generally first grown up in batch mode in order to achieve a desired cell density. When the carbon source and/or other nutrients are exhausted, feed medium of the same composition is supplied continuously at a desired rate, and fermentation liquid is withdrawn at the same rate. Under such conditions, the product concentration in the bioreactor generally remains constant, as well as the cell density. The temperature of the fermenter is maintained at a desired temperature, as discussed above. During the continuous fermentation phase, it is generally desirable to maintain a suitable pH range for optimized production. The pH can be monitored and maintained using routine methods, including the addition of suitable acids or bases to maintain a desired pH range. The bioreactor is operated continuously for extended periods of time, generally at least one week to several weeks and up to one month, or longer, as appropriate and desired. The fermentation liquid and/or culture is monitored periodically, including sampling up to every day, as desired, to assure consistency of product concentration and/or cell density. In continuous mode, fermenter contents are constantly removed as new feed medium is supplied. The exit stream, containing cells, medium, and product, are generally subjected to a continuous product separations procedure, with or without removing cells and cell debris, as desired. Continuous separations methods employed in the art can be used to separate the product from dilute aqueous solutions, including but not limited to continuous liquid-liquid extraction using a water immiscible organic solvent (e.g., toluene or other suitable solvents, including but not limited to diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, tetrahydrofuran (THF), methylene chloride, chloroform, benzene, pentane, hexane, heptane, petroleum ether, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), dioxane, dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and the like), standard continuous distillation methods, and the like, or other methods well known in the art.

In addition to the culturing and fermentation conditions disclosed herein, growth condition for achieving biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can include the addition of an osmoprotectant to the culturing conditions. In certain embodiments, the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention can be sustained, cultured or fermented as described herein in the presence of an osmoprotectant. Briefly, an osmoprotectant refers to a compound that acts as an osmolyte and helps a microbial organism as described herein survive osmotic stress. Osmoprotectants include, but are not limited to, betaines, amino acids, and the sugar trehalose. Non-limiting examples of such are glycine betaine, praline betaine, dimethylthetin, dimethylslfonioproprionate, 3-dimethylsulfonio-2-methylproprionate, pipecolic acid, dimethylsulfonioacetate, choline, L-carnitine and ectoine. In one aspect, the osmoprotectant is glycine betaine. It is understood to one of ordinary skill in the art that the amount and type of osmoprotectant suitable for protecting a microbial organism described herein from osmotic stress will depend on the microbial organism used. The amount of osmoprotectant in the culturing conditions can be, for example, no more than about 0.1 mM, no more than about 0.5 mM, no more than about 1.0 mM, no more than about 1.5 mM, no more than about 2.0 mM, no more than about 2.5 mM, no more than about 3.0 mM, no more than about 5.0 mM, no more than about 7.0 mM, no more than about 10 mM, no more than about 50 mM, no more than about 100 mM or no more than about 500 mM.

In some embodiments, the carbon feedstock and other cellular uptake sources such as phosphate, ammonia, sulfate, chloride and other halogens can be chosen to alter the isotopic distribution of the atoms present in butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or any butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate. The various carbon feedstock and other uptake sources enumerated above will be referred to herein, collectively, as “uptake sources.” Uptake sources can provide isotopic enrichment for any atom present in the product butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate, or for side products generated in reactions diverging away from a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway. Isotopic enrichment can be achieved for any target atom including, for example, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, chloride or other halogens.

In some embodiments, the uptake sources can be selected to alter the carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14 ratios. In some embodiments, the uptake sources can be selected to alter the oxygen-16, oxygen-17, and oxygen-18 ratios. In some embodiments, the uptake sources can be selected to alter the hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium ratios. In some embodiments, the uptake sources can be selected to alter the nitrogen-14 and nitrogen-15 ratios. In some embodiments, the uptake sources can be selected to alter the sulfur-32, sulfur-33, sulfur-34, and sulfur-35 ratios. In some embodiments, the uptake sources can be selected to alter the phosphorus-31, phosphorus-32, and phosphorus-33 ratios. In some embodiments, the uptake sources can be selected to alter the chlorine-35, chlorine-36, and chlorine-37 ratios.

In some embodiments, the isotopic ratio of a target atom can be varied to a desired ratio by selecting one or more uptake sources. An uptake source can be derived from a natural source, as found in nature, or from a man-made source, and one skilled in the art can select a natural source, a man-made source, or a combination thereof, to achieve a desired isotopic ratio of a target atom. An example of a man-made uptake source includes, for example, an uptake source that is at least partially derived from a chemical synthetic reaction. Such isotopically enriched uptake sources can be purchased commercially or prepared in the laboratory and/or optionally mixed with a natural source of the uptake source to achieve a desired isotopic ratio. In some embodiments, a target atom isotopic ratio of an uptake source can be achieved by selecting a desired origin of the uptake source as found in nature. For example, as discussed herein, a natural source can be a biobased derived from or synthesized by a biological organism or a source such as petroleum-based products or the atmosphere. In some such embodiments, a source of carbon, for example, can be selected from a fossil fuel-derived carbon source, which can be relatively depleted of carbon-14, or an environmental or atmospheric carbon source, such as CO₂, which can possess a larger amount of carbon-14 than its petroleum-derived counterpart.

The unstable carbon isotope carbon-14 or radiocarbon makes up for roughly 1 in 10¹² carbon atoms in the earth's atmosphere and has a half-life of about 5700 years. The stock of carbon is replenished in the upper atmosphere by a nuclear reaction involving cosmic rays and ordinary nitrogen (¹⁴N). Fossil fuels contain no carbon-14, as it decayed long ago. Burning of fossil fuels lowers the atmospheric carbon-14 fraction, the so-called “Suess effect”.

Methods of determining the isotopic ratios of atoms in a compound are well known to those skilled in the art. Isotopic enrichment is readily assessed by mass spectrometry using techniques known in the art such as accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS), Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (SIRMS) and Site-Specific Natural Isotopic Fractionation by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (SNIF-NMR). Such mass spectral techniques can be integrated with separation techniques such as liquid chromatography (LC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and/or gas chromatography, and the like.

In the case of carbon, ASTM D6866 was developed in the United States as a standardized analytical method for determining the biobased content of solid, liquid, and gaseous samples using radiocarbon dating by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International. The standard is based on the use of radiocarbon dating for the determination of a product's biobased content. ASTM D6866 was first published in 2004, and the current active version of the standard is ASTM D6866-11 (effective Apr. 1, 2011). Radiocarbon dating techniques are well known to those skilled in the art, including those described herein.

The biobased content of a compound is estimated by the ratio of carbon-14 (¹⁴C) to carbon-12 (¹²C). Specifically, the Fraction Modem (Fm) is computed from the expression: Fm=(S−B)/(M−B), where B, S and M represent the ¹⁴C/¹²C ratios of the blank, the sample and the modem reference, respectively. Fraction Modem is a measurement of the deviation of the ¹⁴C/¹²C ratio of a sample from “Modem.” Modem is defined as 95% of the radiocarbon concentration (in AD 1950) of National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Oxalic Acid I (i.e., standard reference materials (SRM) 4990b) normalized to δ¹³CVP_DB=−19 per mil (Olsson, The use of Oxalic acid as a Standard. in, Radiocarbon Variations and Absolute Chronology, Nobel Symposium, 12th Proc., John Wiley & Sons, New York (1970)). Mass spectrometry results, for example, measured by ASM, are calculated using the internationally agreed upon definition of 0.95 times the specific activity of NBS Oxalic Acid I (SRM 4990b) normalized to δ¹³C_VPDB=−19 per mil. This is equivalent to an absolute (AD 1950) ¹⁴C/¹²C ratio of 1.176±0.010×10⁻¹² (Karlen et al., Arkiv Geofysik, 4:465-471 (1968)). The standard calculations take into account the differential uptake of one isotope with respect to another, for example, the preferential uptake in biological systems of C¹² over C¹³ over C¹⁴, and these corrections are reflected as a Fm corrected for δ¹³.

An oxalic acid standard (SRM 4990b or HOx 1) was made from a crop of 1955 sugar beet. Although there were 1000 lbs made, this oxalic acid standard is no longer commercially available. The Oxalic Acid II standard (HOx 2; N.I.S.T designation SRM 4990 C) was made from a crop of 1977 French beet molasses. In the early 1980's, a group of 12 laboratories measured the ratios of the two standards. The ratio of the activity of Oxalic acid II to 1 is 1.2933±0.001 (the weighted mean). The isotopic ratio of HOx II is −17.8 per mil. ASTM D6866-11 suggests use of the available Oxalic Acid II standard SRM 4990 C (Hox2) for the modem standard (see discussion of original vs. currently available oxalic acid standards in Mann, Radiocarbon, 25(2):519-527 (1983)). A Fm=0% represents the entire lack of carbon-14 atoms in a material, thus indicating a fossil (for example, petroleum based) carbon source. A Fm=100%, after correction for the post-1950 injection of carbon-14 into the atmosphere from nuclear bomb testing, indicates an entirely modern carbon source. As described herein, such a “modern” source includes biobased sources.

As described in ASTM D6866, the percent modem carbon (pMC) can be greater than 100% because of the continuing but diminishing effects of the 1950s nuclear testing programs, which resulted in a considerable enrichment of carbon-14 in the atmosphere as described in ASTM D6866-11. Because all sample carbon-14 activities are referenced to a “pre-bomb” standard, and because nearly all new biobased products are produced in a post-bomb environment, all pMC values (after correction for isotopic fraction) must be multiplied by 0.95 (as of 2010) to better reflect the true biobased content of the sample. A biobased content that is greater than 103% suggests that either an analytical error has occurred, or that the source of biobased carbon is more than several years old.

ASTM D6866 quantifies the biobased content relative to the material's total organic content and does not consider the inorganic carbon and other non-carbon containing substances present. For example, a product that is 50% starch-based material and 50% water would be considered to have a Biobased Content=100% (50% organic content that is 100% biobased) based on ASTM D6866. In another example, a product that is 50% starch-based material, 25% petroleum-based, and 25% water would have a Biobased Content=66.7% (75% organic content but only 50% of the product is biobased). In another example, a product that is 50% organic carbon and is a petroleum-based product would be considered to have a Biobased Content=0% (50% organic carbon but from fossil sources). Thus, based on the well known methods and known standards for determining the biobased content of a compound or material, one skilled in the art can readily determine the biobased content of a compound or material and/or prepared downstream products that utilize a compound or material of the invention having a desired biobased content.

Applications of carbon-14 dating techniques to quantify bio-based content of materials are known in the art (Currie et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 172:281-287 (2000)). For example, carbon-14 dating has been used to quantify bio-based content in terephthalate-containing materials (Colonna et al., Green Chemistry, 13:2543-2548 (2011)). Notably, polypropylene terephthalate (PPT) polymers derived from renewable 1,3-propanediol and petroleum-derived terephthalic acid resulted in Fm values near 30% (i.e., since 3/11 of the polymeric carbon derives from renewable 1,3-propanediol and 8/11 from the fossil end member terephthalic acid) (Currie et al., supra, 2000). In contrast, polybutylene terephthalate polymer derived from both renewable 1,4-butanediol and renewable terephthalic acid resulted in bio-based content exceeding 90% (Colonna et al., supra, 2011).

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the present invention provides butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate that has a carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14 ratio that reflects an atmospheric carbon, also referred to as environmental carbon, uptake source. For example, in some aspects the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate can have an Fm value of at least 10%, at least 15%, at least 20%, at least 25%, at least 30%, at least 35%, at least 40%, at least 45%, at least 50%, at least 55%, at least 60%, at least 65%, at least 70%, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 98% or as much as 100%. In some such embodiments, the uptake source is CO₂. In some embodiments, the present invention provides butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate that has a carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14 ratio that reflects petroleum-based carbon uptake source. In this aspect, the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate can have an Fm value of less than 95%, less than 90%, less than 85%, less than 80%, less than 75%, less than 70%, less than 65%, less than 60%, less than 55%, less than 50%, less than 45%, less than 40%, less than 35%, less than 30%, less than 25%, less than 20%, less than 15%, less than 10%, less than 5%, less than 2% or less than 1%. In some embodiments, the present invention provides butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a pathway intermediate that has a carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14 ratio that is obtained by a combination of an atmospheric carbon uptake source with a petroleum-based uptake source. Using such a combination of uptake sources is one way by which the carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14 ratio can be varied, and the respective ratios would reflect the proportions of the uptake sources.

Further, the present invention relates to the biologically produced butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate as disclosed herein, and to the products derived therefrom, wherein the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate has a carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14 isotope ratio of about the same value as the CO₂ that occurs in the environment. For example, in some aspects the invention provides bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate intermediate having a carbon-12 versus carbon-13 versus carbon-14 isotope ratio of about the same value as the CO₂ that occurs in the environment, or any of the other ratios disclosed herein. It is understood, as disclosed herein, that a product can have a carbon-12 versus carbon-13 versus carbon-14 isotope ratio of about the same value as the CO₂ that occurs in the environment, or any of the ratios disclosed herein, wherein the product is generated from bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate as disclosed herein, wherein the bioderived product is chemically modified to generate a final product. Methods of chemically modifying a bioderived product of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, or an intermediate thereof, to generate a desired product are well known to those skilled in the art, as described herein. The invention further provides a polymer, a synthetic rubber, an ABS resin, a chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, a copolymer, an acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), a styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), a styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, a styrene-butadiene latex (SB), a synthetic rubber article, a tire, an adhesive, a seal, a sealant, a coating, a hose, a shoe sole, a polybutadiene rubber, a gasket, a high impact polystyrene (HIPS), a paper coating, a carpet backing, a molded article, a pipe, a telephone, a computer casing, a mobile phone, a radio, an appliance, a foam mattress, a glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), an automotive part, an electrical part, a water system part, polyurethane, a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, a biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), an elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), a spandex fiber, elastane, an industrial solvent, a pharmaceutical, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, a copolyester ether (COPE), a thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, a mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, a methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, a clear resin, a transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) having a carbon-12 versus carbon-13 versus carbon-14 isotope ratio of about the same value as the CO₂ that occurs in the environment, wherein the polymer, synthetic rubber, ABS resin, chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, copolymer, acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), a styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, styrene-butadiene latex (SB), synthetic rubber article, tire, adhesive, seal, sealant, coating, hose, shoe sole, polybutadiene rubber, gasket, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), paper coating, carpet backing, molded article, pipe, telephone, computer casing, mobile phone, radio, appliance, foam mattress, glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, asphalt modifier, toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), automotive part, electrical part, water system part, polyurethane, polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), spandex fiber, elastane, industrial solvent, pharmaceutical, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, copolyester ether (COPE), thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, clear resin, transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is generated directly from or in combination with bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or a bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate as disclosed herein.

The invention further provides a composition comprising bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, and a compound other than the bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. The compound other than the bioderived product can be a cellular portion, for example, a trace amount of a cellular portion of, or can be fermentation broth or culture medium or a purified or partially purified fraction thereof produced in the presence of, a non-naturally occurring microbial organism of the invention having a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway. The composition can comprise, for example, a reduced level of a byproduct when produced by an organism having reduced byproduct formation, as disclosed herein. The composition can comprise, for example, bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, or a cell lysate or culture supernatant of a microbial organism of the invention. The compound can also be hydrogen.

Butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate is a chemical used in commercial and industrial applications. Non-limiting examples of such applications include production of a polymer, a synthetic rubber, an ABS resin, a chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, a copolymer, an acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), a styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), a styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, a styrene-butadiene latex (SB), a synthetic rubber article, a tire, an adhesive, a seal, a sealant, a coating, a hose, a shoe sole, a polybutadiene rubber, a gasket, a high impact polystyrene (HIPS), a paper coating, a carpet backing, a molded article, a pipe, a telephone, a computer casing, a mobile phone, a radio, an appliance, a foam mattress, a glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), an automotive part, an electrical part, a water system part, polyurethane, a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, a biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), an elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), a spandex fiber, elastane, an industrial solvent, a pharmaceutical, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, a copolyester ether (COPE), a thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, a mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, a methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, a clear resin, a transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Moreover, butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate is also used as a raw material in the production of a wide range of products including a polymer, a synthetic rubber, an ABS resin, a chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, a copolymer, an acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), a styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), a styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, a styrene-butadiene latex (SB), a synthetic rubber article, a tire, an adhesive, a seal, a sealant, a coating, a hose, a shoe sole, a polybutadiene rubber, a gasket, a high impact polystyrene (HIPS), a paper coating, a carpet backing, a molded article, a pipe, a telephone, a computer casing, a mobile phone, a radio, an appliance, a foam mattress, a glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), an automotive part, an electrical part, a water system part, polyurethane, a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, a biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), an elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), a spandex fiber, elastane, an industrial solvent, a pharmaceutical, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, a copolyester ether (COPE), a thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, a mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, a methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, a clear resin, a transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Accordingly, in some embodiments, the invention provides biobased polymer, synthetic rubber, ABS resin, chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, copolymer, acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, styrene-butadiene latex (SB), synthetic rubber article, tire, adhesive, seal, sealant, coating, hose, shoe sole, polybutadiene rubber, gasket, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), paper coating, carpet backing, molded article, pipe, telephone, computer casing, mobile phone, radio, appliance, foam mattress, glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), automotive part, electrical part, water system part, polyurethane, polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), spandex fiber, elastane, industrial solvent, pharmaceutical, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, copolyester ether (COPE), thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, clear resin, transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) comprising one or more bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or bioderived pathway intermediate produced by a non-naturally occurring microorganism of the invention or produced using a method disclosed herein.

As used herein, the term “bioderived” means derived from or synthesized by a biological organism and can be considered a renewable resource since it can be generated by a biological organism. Such a biological organism, in particular the microbial organisms of the invention disclosed herein, can utilize feedstock or biomass, such as, sugars or carbohydrates obtained from an agricultural, plant, bacterial, or animal source. Alternatively, the biological organism can utilize atmospheric carbon. As used herein, the term “biobased” means a product as described above that is composed, in whole or in part, of a bioderived compound of the invention. A biobased or bioderived product is in contrast to a petroleum derived product, wherein such a product is derived from or synthesized from petroleum or a petrochemical feedstock.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a polymer, a synthetic rubber, an ABS resin, a chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, a copolymer, an acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), a styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), a styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, a styrene-butadiene latex (SB), a synthetic rubber article, a tire, an adhesive, a seal, a sealant, a coating, a hose, a shoe sole, a polybutadiene rubber, a gasket, a high impact polystyrene (HIPS), a paper coating, a carpet backing, a molded article, a pipe, a telephone, a computer casing, a mobile phone, a radio, an appliance, a foam mattress, a glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), an automotive part, an electrical part, a water system part, polyurethane, a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, a biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), an elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), a spandex fiber, elastane, an industrial solvent, a pharmaceutical, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, a copolyester ether (COPE), a thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, a mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, a methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, a clear resin, a transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) comprising bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate, wherein the bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate includes all or part of the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate used in the production of a polymer, a synthetic rubber, an ABS resin, a chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, a copolymer, an acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), a styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), a styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, a styrene-butadiene latex (SB), a synthetic rubber article, a tire, an adhesive, a seal, a sealant, a coating, a hose, a shoe sole, a polybutadiene rubber, a gasket, a high impact polystyrene (HIPS), a paper coating, a carpet backing, a molded article, a pipe, a telephone, a computer casing, a mobile phone, a radio, an appliance, a foam mattress, a glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), an automotive part, an electrical part, a water system part, polyurethane, a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, a biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), an elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), a spandex fiber, elastane, an industrial solvent, a pharmaceutical, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, a copolyester ether (COPE), a thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, a mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, a methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, a clear resin, a transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). For example, the final polymer, synthetic rubber, ABS resin, chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, copolymer, acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, styrene-butadiene latex (SB), synthetic rubber article, tire, adhesive, seal, sealant, coating, hose, shoe sole, polybutadiene rubber, gasket, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), paper coating, carpet backing, molded article, pipe, telephone, computer casing, mobile phone, radio, appliance, foam mattress, glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), automotive part, electrical part, water system part, polyurethane, polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), spandex fiber, elastane, industrial solvent, pharmaceutical, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, copolyester ether (COPE), thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, clear resin, transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) can contain the bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate, or a portion thereof that is the result of the manufacturing of a polymer, a synthetic rubber, an ABS resin, a chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, a copolymer, an acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), a styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), a styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, a styrene-butadiene latex (SB), a synthetic rubber article, a tire, an adhesive, a seal, a sealant, a coating, a hose, a shoe sole, a polybutadiene rubber, a gasket, a high impact polystyrene (HIPS), a paper coating, a carpet backing, a molded article, a pipe, a telephone, a computer casing, a mobile phone, a radio, an appliance, a foam mattress, a glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), an automotive part, an electrical part, a water system part, polyurethane, a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, a biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), an elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), a spandex fiber, elastane, an industrial solvent, a pharmaceutical, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, a copolyester ether (COPE), a thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, a mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, a methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, a clear resin, a transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Such manufacturing can include chemically reacting the bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate (e.g. chemical conversion, chemical functionalization, chemical coupling, oxidation, reduction, polymerization, copolymerization and the like) into the final polymer, synthetic rubber, ABS resin, chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, copolymer, acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, styrene-butadiene latex (SB), synthetic rubber article, tire, adhesive, seal, sealant, coating, hose, shoe sole, polybutadiene rubber, gasket, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), paper coating, carpet backing, molded article, pipe, telephone, computer casing, mobile phone, radio, appliance, foam mattress, glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), automotive part, electrical part, water system part, polyurethane, polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), spandex fiber, elastane, industrial solvent, pharmaceutical, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, copolyester ether (COPE), thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, clear resin, transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Thus, in some aspects, the invention provides a biobased polymer, synthetic rubber, ABS resin, chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, copolymer, acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, styrene-butadiene latex (SB), synthetic rubber article, tire, adhesive, seal, sealant, coating, hose, shoe sole, polybutadiene rubber, gasket, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), paper coating, carpet backing, molded article, pipe, telephone, computer casing, mobile phone, radio, appliance, foam mattress, glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), automotive part, electrical part, water system part, polyurethane, polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), spandex fiber, elastane, industrial solvent, pharmaceutical, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, copolyester ether (COPE), thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, clear resin, transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) comprising at least 2%, at least 3%, at least 5%, at least 10%, at least 15%, at least 20%, at least 25%, at least 30%, at least 35%, at least 40%, at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80%, at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 98% or 100% bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate as disclosed herein.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the invention provides a composition having a bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate disclosed herein and a compound other than the bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate. For example, in some aspects, the invention provides a biobased polymer, synthetic rubber, ABS resin, chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, copolymer, acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, styrene-butadiene latex (SB), synthetic rubber article, tire, adhesive, seal, sealant, coating, hose, shoe sole, polybutadiene rubber, gasket, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), paper coating, carpet backing, molded article, pipe, telephone, computer casing, mobile phone, radio, appliance, foam mattress, glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), automotive part, electrical part, water system part, polyurethane, polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), spandex fiber, elastane, industrial solvent, pharmaceutical, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, copolyester ether (COPE), thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, clear resin, transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) wherein the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate used in its production is a combination of bioderived and petroleum derived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate. For example, a biobased polymer, synthetic rubber, ABS resin, chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, copolymer, acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, styrene-butadiene latex (SB), synthetic rubber article, tire, adhesive, seal, sealant, coating, hose, shoe sole, polybutadiene rubber, gasket, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), paper coating, carpet backing, molded article, pipe, telephone, computer casing, mobile phone, radio, appliance, foam mattress, glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), automotive part, electrical part, water system part, polyurethane, polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), spandex fiber, elastane, industrial solvent, pharmaceutical, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, copolyester ether (COPE), thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, clear resin, transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) can be produced using 50% bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate and 50% petroleum derived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or other desired ratios such as 60%/40%, 70%/30%, 80%/20%, 90%/10%, 95%/5%, 100%/0%, 40%/60%, 30%/70%, 20%/80%, 10%/90% of bioderived/petroleum derived precursors, so long as at least a portion of the product comprises a bioderived product produced by the microbial organisms disclosed herein. It is understood that methods for producing polymer, synthetic rubber, ABS resin, chemical, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA), 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), adiponitrile, lauryl lactam, caprolactam, chloroprene, sulfalone, n-octanol, octene-1, polybutadiene, copolymer, acrylonitrile 1,3-butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-1,3-butadiene rubber (styrene butadiene rubber; SBR), styrene-1,3-butadiene latex, styrene-butadiene latex (SB), synthetic rubber article, tire, adhesive, seal, sealant, coating, hose, shoe sole, polybutadiene rubber, gasket, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), paper coating, carpet backing, molded article, pipe, telephone, computer casing, mobile phone, radio, appliance, foam mattress, glove, footwear, styrene-butadiene block copolymers, an asphalt modifier, a toy, nylon, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,X, polychloroprene (neoprene), thermoplastic, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), automotive part, electrical part, water system part, polyurethane, polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, biodegradable polymer, PBAT (poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)), PBS (poly(butylene succinate)), elastic fiber, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), spandex fiber, elastane, industrial solvent, pharmaceutical, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), elastomer polyester, copolyester ether (COPE), thermoplastic polyurethane, packaging, mold extruded product, methylmethacrylate butadiene styrene, methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) resin, clear resin, transparent thermoplastic, polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl carbonate (PVC), or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) using the bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or bioderived butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway intermediate of the invention are well known in the art.

The invention further provides bioderived hydrogen produced by culturing a non-naturally culturing microbial organism disclosed herein under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce hydrogen. In some embodiments, the invention provides a process for producing hydrogen including (a) culturing a non-naturally culturing microbial organism disclosed herein in a substantially anaerobic culture medium under a condition to produce hydrogen; (b) separating the produced hydrogen from the culture medium; and (c) collecting the separated hydrogen.

In some embodiments, the said condition allowing hydrogen production includes an aqueous environment and a gas phase. The said aqueous environment can contain a liquid feedstock. The liquid feedstock can include a carbon source selected from the group consisting of glucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, fructose, sucrose, starch, methonal, and glycerol. In one aspect, the liquid feedstock is supplied continuously. In addition, the gas phase can be continuously flushed with a defined amount of an inert gas, or flushed at defined time points with a defined amount of an inert gas. The aqueous environment also can be continuously bubbled with defined amounts of an inert gas, or flushed at defined time points with a defined amount of an inert gas. In some aspects, the inert gas is nitrogen or argon. In some other embodiments, the produced hydrogen is separated from the culture medium by shaking.

Provided herein are exemplary methods to purify butadiene and hydrogen from the culture medium. In some embodiments, any of the methods or processes described herein further include recovering the co-produced compounds. In some embodiments, any of the methods or processes described herein further include recovering butadiene produced. In some embodiments, any of the methods or processes described herein further include recovering the hydrogen produced. Such methods or processes can include cryogenic membrane, adsorption matrix-based separation methods that are well-known in the art.

The butadiene and/or hydrogen produced using the compositions, methods and processes described herein can be recovered using standard techniques, such as gas stripping, membrane enhanced separation, fractionation, adsorption/desorption, pervaporation, thermal or vacuum desorption of butadiene from a solid phase, or extraction of butadiene immobilized or absorbed to a solid phase with a solvent (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,703,007, 4,570,029, and 4,740,222, which are each hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties, particularly with respect to hydrogen recovery and purification methods ('222 patent)). Gas stripping involves the removal of butadiene vapor from the fermentation off-gas stream in a continuous manner. Such removal can be achieved in several different ways including, but not limited to, adsorption to a solid phase, partition into a liquid phase, or direct condensation (such as condensation due to exposure to a condensation coil or do to an increase in pressure). In some embodiments, membrane enrichment of a dilute butadiene vapor stream above the dew point of the vapor resulting in the condensation of liquid butadiene. In some embodiments, the butadiene is compressed and condensed.

The recovery of butadiene may involve one step or multiple steps. In some embodiments, the removal of butadiene vapor from the fermentation off-gas and the conversion of butadiene to a liquid phase are performed simultaneously. For example, butadiene can be directly condensed from the off-gas stream to form a liquid. In some embodiments, the removal of butadiene vapor from the fermentation off-gas and the conversion of butadiene to a liquid phase are performed sequentially. For example, butadiene may be adsorbed to a solid phase and then extracted from the solid phase with a solvent.

The recovery of hydrogen may involve one step or multiple steps. In some embodiments, the removal of hydrogen gas from the fermentation off-gas and the conversion of hydrogen to a liquid phase are performed simultaneously. In some embodiments, the removal of hydrogen gas from the fermentation off-gas and the conversion of hydrogen to a liquid phase are performed sequentially. For example, hydrogen may be adsorbed to a solid phase and then desorbed from the solid phase by a pressure swing. In some embodiments, recovered hydrogen gas is concentrated and compressed.

In some embodiments, any of the methods described herein further include purifying the hydrogen. For example, the hydrogen produced using the compositions and methods described herein can be purified using standard techniques. Purification refers to a process through which hydrogen is separated from one or more components that are present when the hydrogen is produced. In some embodiments, the hydrogen is obtained as a substantially pure gas. In some embodiments, the hydrogen is obtained as a substantially pure liquid. Examples of purification methods include (i) cryogenic condensation and (ii) solid matrix adsorption. As used herein, “purified hydrogen” means hydrogen that has been separated from one or more components that are present when the hydrogen is produced. In some embodiments, the hydrogen is at least about 20%, by weight, free from other components that are present when the hydrogen is produced. In various embodiments, the hydrogen is at least or about 25%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 90%, 95%, or 99%, by weight, pure. Purity can be assayed by any appropriate method, e.g., by column chromatography or GC-MS analysis.

In some embodiments, at least a portion of the gas phase remaining after one or more recovery steps for the removal of butadiene is recycled by introducing the gas phase into a cell culture system (such as a fermentor) for the production of butadiene.

A bioderived composition from a fermentor off-gas may contain butadiene with volatile impurities and bio-byproduct impurities. In some embodiments, butadiene from a fermentor off-gas can be purified using a method comprising: (a) contacting the fermentor off-gas with a solvent in a first column to form a butadiene-rich solution comprising the solvent, a major portion of the butadiene and a major portion of the bio-byproduct impurity; and a vapor comprising a major portion of the volatile impurity; (b) transferring the butadiene-rich solution from the first column to a second column; and (c) stripping butadiene from the butadiene-rich solution in the second column to form: an butadiene-lean solution comprising a major portion of the bio-byproduct impurity; and a purified butadiene.

Separation of hydrogen from other gaseous products such as butadiene, CO2 can be accomplished by well-known methods such as pressure-swing adsorption and membrane-based methods. There are several types of membranes: gas-diffusion, ion conducting, and catalytic membranes. Apparatus and methods for separation of H2 from CO2 produced during fermentation is known in the art (see, e.g., US2010/02483181, which is incorporated herein by reference) and can be used in the methods and processes described herein.

The culture conditions can include, for example, liquid culture procedures as well as fermentation and other large scale culture procedures. As described herein, particularly useful yields of the biosynthetic products of the invention can be obtained under anaerobic or substantially anaerobic culture conditions.

As described herein, one exemplary growth condition for achieving biosynthesis of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate includes anaerobic culture or fermentation conditions. In certain embodiments, the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention can be sustained, cultured or fermented under anaerobic or substantially anaerobic conditions. Briefly, an anaerobic condition refers to an environment devoid of oxygen. Substantially anaerobic conditions include, for example, a culture, batch fermentation or continuous fermentation such that the dissolved oxygen concentration in the medium remains between 0 and 10% of saturation. Substantially anaerobic conditions also includes growing or resting cells in liquid medium or on solid agar inside a sealed chamber maintained with an atmosphere of less than 1% oxygen. The percent of oxygen can be maintained by, for example, sparging the culture with an N₂/CO₂ mixture or other suitable non-oxygen gas or gases.

The culture conditions described herein can be scaled up and grown continuously for manufacturing of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. Exemplary growth procedures include, for example, fed-batch fermentation and batch separation; fed-batch fermentation and continuous separation, or continuous fermentation and continuous separation. All of these processes are well known in the art. Fermentation procedures are particularly useful for the biosynthetic production of commercial quantities of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. Generally, and as with non-continuous culture procedures, the continuous and/or near-continuous production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate will include culturing a non-naturally occurring butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producing organism of the invention in sufficient nutrients and medium to sustain and/or nearly sustain growth in an exponential phase. Continuous culture under such conditions can include, for example, growth or culturing for 1 day, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 days or more. Additionally, continuous culture can include longer time periods of 1 week, 2, 3, 4 or 5 or more weeks and up to several months. Alternatively, organisms of the invention can be cultured for hours, if suitable for a particular application. It is to be understood that the continuous and/or near-continuous culture conditions also can include all time intervals in between these exemplary periods. It is further understood that the time of culturing the microbial organism of the invention is for a sufficient period of time to produce a sufficient amount of product for a desired purpose.

Fermentation procedures are well known in the art. Briefly, fermentation for the biosynthetic production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be utilized in, for example, fed-batch fermentation and batch separation; fed-batch fermentation and continuous separation, or continuous fermentation and continuous separation. Examples of batch and continuous fermentation procedures are well known in the art.

In addition to the above fermentation procedures using the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producers of the invention for continuous production of substantial quantities of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, the butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producers also can be, for example, simultaneously subjected to chemical synthesis and/or enzymatic procedures to convert the product to other compounds or the product can be separated from the fermentation culture and sequentially subjected to chemical and/or enzymatic conversion to convert the product to other compounds, if desired.

To generate better producers, metabolic modeling can be utilized to optimize growth conditions. Modeling can also be used to design gene knockouts that additionally optimize utilization of the pathway (see, for example, U.S. patent publications US 2002/0012939, US 2003/0224363, US 2004/0029149, US 2004/0072723, US 2003/0059792, US 2002/0168654 and US 2004/0009466, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,379). Modeling analysis allows reliable predictions of the effects on cell growth of shifting the metabolism towards more efficient production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate.

One computational method for identifying and designing metabolic alterations favoring biosynthesis of a desired product is the OptKnock computational framework (Burgard et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 84:647-657 (2003)). OptKnock is a metabolic modeling and simulation program that suggests gene deletion or disruption strategies that result in genetically stable microorganisms which overproduce the target product. Specifically, the framework examines the complete metabolic and/or biochemical network of a microorganism in order to suggest genetic manipulations that force the desired biochemical to become an obligatory byproduct of cell growth. By coupling biochemical production with cell growth through strategically placed gene deletions or other functional gene disruption, the growth selection pressures imposed on the engineered strains after long periods of time in a bioreactor lead to improvements in performance as a result of the compulsory growth-coupled biochemical production. Lastly, when gene deletions are constructed there is a negligible possibility of the designed strains reverting to their wild-type states because the genes selected by OptKnock are to be completely removed from the genome. Therefore, this computational methodology can be used to either identify alternative pathways that lead to biosynthesis of a desired product or used in connection with the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms for further optimization of biosynthesis of a desired product.

Briefly, OptKnock is a term used herein to refer to a computational method and system for modeling cellular metabolism. The OptKnock program relates to a framework of models and methods that incorporate particular constraints into flux balance analysis (FBA) models. These constraints include, for example, qualitative kinetic information, qualitative regulatory information, and/or DNA microarray experimental data. OptKnock also computes solutions to various metabolic problems by, for example, tightening the flux boundaries derived through flux balance models and subsequently probing the performance limits of metabolic networks in the presence of gene additions or deletions. OptKnock computational framework allows the construction of model formulations that allow an effective query of the performance limits of metabolic networks and provides methods for solving the resulting mixed-integer linear programming problems. The metabolic modeling and simulation methods referred to herein as OptKnock are described in, for example, U.S. publication 2002/0168654, filed Jan. 10, 2002, in International Patent No. PCT/US02/00660, filed Jan. 10, 2002, and U.S. publication 2009/0047719, filed Aug. 10, 2007.

Another computational method for identifying and designing metabolic alterations favoring biosynthetic production of a product is a metabolic modeling and simulation system termed SimPheny®. This computational method and system is described in, for example, U.S. publication 2003/0233218, filed Jun. 14, 2002, and in International Patent Application No. PCT/US03/18838, filed Jun. 13, 2003. SimPheny® is a computational system that can be used to produce a network model in silico and to simulate the flux of mass, energy or charge through the chemical reactions of a biological system to define a solution space that contains any and all possible functionalities of the chemical reactions in the system, thereby determining a range of allowed activities for the biological system. This approach is referred to as constraints-based modeling because the solution space is defined by constraints such as the known stoichiometry of the included reactions as well as reaction thermodynamic and capacity constraints associated with maximum fluxes through reactions. The space defined by these constraints can be interrogated to determine the phenotypic capabilities and behavior of the biological system or of its biochemical components.

These computational approaches are consistent with biological realities because biological systems are flexible and can reach the same result in many different ways. Biological systems are designed through evolutionary mechanisms that have been restricted by fundamental constraints that all living systems must face. Therefore, constraints-based modeling strategy embraces these general realities. Further, the ability to continuously impose further restrictions on a network model via the tightening of constraints results in a reduction in the size of the solution space, thereby enhancing the precision with which physiological performance or phenotype can be predicted.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art will be able to apply various computational frameworks for metabolic modeling and simulation to design and implement biosynthesis of a desired compound in host microbial organisms. Such metabolic modeling and simulation methods include, for example, the computational systems exemplified above as SimPheny® and OptKnock. For illustration of the invention, some methods are described herein with reference to the OptKnock computation framework for modeling and simulation. Those skilled in the art will know how to apply the identification, design and implementation of the metabolic alterations using OptKnock to any of such other metabolic modeling and simulation computational frameworks and methods well known in the art.

The methods described above will provide one set of metabolic reactions to disrupt. Elimination of each reaction within the set or metabolic modification can result in a desired product as an obligatory product during the growth phase of the organism. Because the reactions are known, a solution to the bilevel OptKnock problem also will provide the associated gene or genes encoding one or more enzymes that catalyze each reaction within the set of reactions. Identification of a set of reactions and their corresponding genes encoding the enzymes participating in each reaction is generally an automated process, accomplished through correlation of the reactions with a reaction database having a relationship between enzymes and encoding genes.

Once identified, the set of reactions that are to be disrupted in order to achieve production of a desired product are implemented in the target cell or organism by functional disruption of at least one gene encoding each metabolic reaction within the set. One particularly useful means to achieve functional disruption of the reaction set is by deletion of each encoding gene. However, in some instances, it can be beneficial to disrupt the reaction by other genetic aberrations including, for example, mutation, deletion of regulatory regions such as promoters or cis binding sites for regulatory factors, or by truncation of the coding sequence at any of a number of locations. These latter aberrations, resulting in less than total deletion of the gene set can be useful, for example, when rapid assessments of the coupling of a product are desired or when genetic reversion is less likely to occur.

To identify additional productive solutions to the above described bilevel OptKnock problem which lead to further sets of reactions to disrupt or metabolic modifications that can result in the biosynthesis, including growth-coupled biosynthesis of a desired product, an optimization method, termed integer cuts, can be implemented. This method proceeds by iteratively solving the OptKnock problem exemplified above with the incorporation of an additional constraint referred to as an integer cut at each iteration. Integer cut constraints effectively prevent the solution procedure from choosing the exact same set of reactions identified in any previous iteration that obligatorily couples product biosynthesis to growth. For example, if a previously identified growth-coupled metabolic modification specifies reactions 1, 2, and 3 for disruption, then the following constraint prevents the same reactions from being simultaneously considered in subsequent solutions. The integer cut method is well known in the art and can be found described in, for example, Burgard et al., Biotechnol. Prog. 17:791-797 (2001). As with all methods described herein with reference to their use in combination with the OptKnock computational framework for metabolic modeling and simulation, the integer cut method of reducing redundancy in iterative computational analysis also can be applied with other computational frameworks well known in the art including, for example, SimPheny®.

The methods exemplified herein allow the construction of cells and organisms that biosynthetically produce a desired product, including the obligatory coupling of production of a target biochemical product to growth of the cell or organism engineered to harbor the identified genetic alterations. Therefore, the computational methods described herein allow the identification and implementation of metabolic modifications that are identified by an in silico method selected from OptKnock or SimPheny®. The set of metabolic modifications can include, for example, addition of one or more biosynthetic pathway enzymes and/or functional disruption of one or more metabolic reactions including, for example, disruption by gene deletion.

As discussed above, the OptKnock methodology was developed on the premise that mutant microbial networks can be evolved towards their computationally predicted maximum-growth phenotypes when subjected to long periods of growth selection. In other words, the approach leverages an organism's ability to self-optimize under selective pressures. The OptKnock framework allows for the exhaustive enumeration of gene deletion combinations that force a coupling between biochemical production and cell growth based on network stoichiometry. The identification of optimal gene/reaction knockouts requires the solution of a bilevel optimization problem that chooses the set of active reactions such that an optimal growth solution for the resulting network overproduces the biochemical of interest (Burgard et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 84:647-657 (2003)).

An in silico stoichiometric model of E. coli metabolism can be employed to identify essential genes for metabolic pathways as exemplified previously and described in, for example, U.S. patent publications US 2002/0012939, US 2003/0224363, US 2004/0029149, US 2004/0072723, US 2003/0059792, US 2002/0168654 and US 2004/0009466, and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,379. As disclosed herein, the OptKnock mathematical framework can be applied to pinpoint gene deletions leading to the growth-coupled production of a desired product. Further, the solution of the bilevel OptKnock problem provides only one set of deletions. To enumerate all meaningful solutions, that is, all sets of knockouts leading to growth-coupled production formation, an optimization technique, termed integer cuts, can be implemented. This entails iteratively solving the OptKnock problem with the incorporation of an additional constraint referred to as an integer cut at each iteration, as discussed above.

Employing the methods exemplified above, the methods of the invention allow the construction of cells and organisms that increase production of a desired product, for example, by coupling the production of a desired product to growth of the cell or organism engineered to harbor the identified genetic alterations. As disclosed herein, metabolic alterations have been identified that couple the production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate to growth of the organism. Microbial organism strains constructed with the identified metabolic alterations produce elevated levels, relative to the absence of the metabolic alterations, of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate during the exponential growth phase. These strains can be beneficially used for the commercial production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate in continuous fermentation process without being subjected to the negative selective pressures described previously. Although exemplified herein as metabolic alterations, in particular one or more gene disruptions, that confer growth coupled production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, it is understood that any gene disruption that increases the production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be introduced into a host microbial organism, as desired.

Therefore, the methods of the invention provide a set of metabolic modifications that are identified by an in silico method such as OptKnock. The set of metabolic modifications can include functional disruption of one or more metabolic reactions including, for example, disruption by gene deletion. For butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production, metabolic modifications can be selected from the set of metabolic modifications listed in FIG. 3.

Also provided is a method of producing a non-naturally occurring microbial organisms having stable growth-coupled production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. The method can include identifying in silico a set of metabolic modifications that increase production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, for example, increase production during exponential growth; genetically modifying an organism to contain the set of metabolic modifications that increase production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, and culturing the genetically modified organism. If desired, culturing can include adaptively evolving the genetically modified organism under conditions requiring production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. The methods of the invention are applicable to bacterium, yeast and fungus as well as a variety of other cells and microorganism, as disclosed herein.

Thus, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism comprising one or more gene disruptions that confer increased production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. In one embodiment, the one or more gene disruptions confer growth-coupled production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, and can, for example, confer stable growth-coupled production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. In another embodiment, the one or more gene disruptions can confer obligatory coupling of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production to growth of the microbial organism. Such one or more gene disruptions reduce the activity of the respective one or more encoded enzymes.

The non-naturally occurring microbial organism can have one or more gene disruptions included in a metabolic modification listed in FIG. 3. As disclosed herein, the one or more gene disruptions can be a deletion. Such non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention include bacteria, yeast, fungus, or any of a variety of other microorganisms applicable to fermentation processes, as disclosed herein.

Thus, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism, comprising one or more gene disruptions, where the one or more gene disruptions occur in genes encoding proteins or enzymes where the one or more gene disruptions confer increased production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate in the organism. The production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be growth-coupled or not growth-coupled. In a particular embodiment, the production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be obligatorily coupled to growth of the organism, as disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism as described herein, wherein the microbial organism further includes attenuation of one or more endogenous enzymes, which enhances carbon flux through acetyl-CoA. For example, in some aspects, the endogenous enzyme can be selected from DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, DHA synthase or any combination thereof. Accordingly, in some aspects, the attenuation is of the endogenous enzyme DHA kinase. In some aspects, the attenuation is of the endogenous enzyme methanol oxidase. In some aspects, the attenuation is of the endogenous enzyme PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase. In some aspects, the attenuation is of the endogenous enzyme DHA synthase. The invention also provides a microbial organism wherein attenuation is of any combination of two or three endogenous enzymes described herein. For example, a microbial organism of the invention can include attenuation of DHA kinase and DHA synthase, or alternatively methanol oxidase and PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, or alternatively DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, and PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, or alternatively DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, and DHA synthase. The invention also provides a microbial organism wherein attenuation is of all endogenous enzymes described herein. For example, in some aspects, a microbial organism described herein includes attenuation of DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase and DHA synthase.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism as described herein, wherein the microbial organism further includes attenuation of one or more endogenous enzymes of a competing formaldehyde assimilation or dissimilation pathway. Examples of these endogenous enzymes are disclosed in FIG. 3. It is understood that a person skilled in the art would be able to readily identify enzymes of such competing pathways. Competing pathways can be dependent upon the host microbial organism and/or the exogenous nucleic acid introduced into the microbial organism as described herein. Accordingly, in some aspects of the invention, the microbial organism includes attenuation of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or more endogenous enzymes of a competing formaldehyde assimilation or dissimilation pathway.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism as described herein, wherein the microbial organism further includes a gene disruption of one or more endogenous nucleic acids encoding enzymes, which enhances carbon flux through acetyl-CoA. For example, in some aspects, the endogenous enzyme can be selected from DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, DHA synthase or any combination thereof. According, in some aspects, the gene disruptiondisruption is of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding the enzyme DHA kinase. In some aspects, the gene disruptiondisruption is of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding the enzyme methanol oxidase. In some aspects, the gene disruptiondisruption is of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding the enzyme PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase. In some aspects, the gene disruption is of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding the enzyme DHA synthase. The invention also provides a microbial organism wherein the gene disruption is of any combination of two or three nucleic acids encoding endogenous enzymes described herein. For example, a microbial organism of the invention can include a gene disruption of DHA kinase and DHA synthase, or alternatively methanol oxidase and PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, or alternatively DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, and PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, or alternatively DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, and DHA synthase. The invention also provides a microbial organism wherein all endogenous nucleic acids encoding enzymes described herein are disrupted. For example, in some aspects, a microbial organism described herein includes disruption of DHA kinase, methanol oxidase, PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase and DHA synthase.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism as described herein, wherein the microbial organism further includes a gene disruption of one or more endogenous enzymes of a competing formaldehyde assimilation or dissimilation pathway. Examples of these endogenous enzymes are disclosed in FIG. 3. It is understood that a person skilled in the art would be able to readily identify enzymes of such competing pathways. Competing pathways can be dependent upon the host microbial organism and/or the exogenous nucleic acid introduced into the microbial organism as described herein. Accordingly, in some aspects of the invention, the microbial organism includes a gene disruption of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or more endogenous nucleic acids encoding enzymes of a competing formaldehyde assimilation or dissimilation pathway.

The invention provides non naturally occurring microbial organisms having genetic alterations such as gene disruptions that increase production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, for example, growth-coupled production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. Product production can be, for example, obligatorily linked to the exponential growth phase of the microorganism by genetically altering the metabolic pathways of the cell, as disclosed herein. The genetic alterations can increase the production of the desired product or even make the desired product an obligatory product during the growth phase. Sets of metabolic alterations or transformations that result in increased production and elevated levels of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate biosynthesis are exemplified in FIG. 3. Each alteration within a set corresponds to the requisite metabolic reaction that should be functionally disrupted. Functional disruption of all reactions within each set can result in the increased production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate by the engineered strain during the growth phase. The corresponding reactions to the referenced alterations can be found in FIG. 3, and the gene or genes that encode enzymes or proteins that carry out the reactions are set forth in FIG. 3.

For example, for each strain exemplified in FIG. 3, the metabolic alterations that can be generated for butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production are shown with “X” markings. These alterations include the functional disruption of the reactions shown in FIG. 3. Each of these non-naturally occurring alterations result in increased production and an enhanced level of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production, for example, during the exponential growth phase of the microbial organism, compared to a strain that does not contain such metabolic alterations, under appropriate culture conditions. Appropriate conditions include, for example, those disclosed herein, including conditions such as particular carbon sources or reactant availabilities and/or adaptive evolution.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art will understand that to introduce a metabolic alteration such as attenuation of an enzyme, it can be necessary to disrupt the catalytic activity of the one or more enzymes involved in the reaction. Alternatively, a metabolic alteration can include disrupting expression of a regulatory protein or cofactor necessary for enzyme activity or maximal activity. Furthermore, genetic loss of a cofactor necessary for an enzymatic reaction can also have the same effect as a disruption of the gene encoding the enzyme. Disruption can occur by a variety of methods including, for example, deletion of an encoding gene or incorporation of a genetic alteration in one or more of the encoding gene sequences. The encoding genes targeted for disruption can be one, some, or all of the genes encoding enzymes involved in the catalytic activity. For example, where a single enzyme is involved in a targeted catalytic activity, disruption can occur by a genetic alteration that reduces or eliminates the catalytic activity of the encoded gene product. Similarly, where the single enzyme is multimeric, including heteromeric, disruption can occur by a genetic alteration that reduces or destroys the function of one or all subunits of the encoded gene products. Destruction of activity can be accomplished by loss of the binding activity of one or more subunits required to form an active complex, by destruction of the catalytic subunit of the multimeric complex or by both. Other functions of multimeric protein association and activity also can be targeted in order to disrupt a metabolic reaction of the invention. Such other functions are well known to those skilled in the art. Similarly, a target enzyme activity can be reduced or eliminated by disrupting expression of a protein or enzyme that modifies and/or activates the target enzyme, for example, a molecule required to convert an apoenzyme to a holoenzyme. Further, some or all of the functions of a single polypeptide or multimeric complex can be disrupted according to the invention in order to reduce or abolish the catalytic activity of one or more enzymes involved in a reaction or metabolic modification of the invention. Similarly, some or all of enzymes involved in a reaction or metabolic modification of the invention can be disrupted so long as the targeted reaction is reduced or eliminated.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art also will understand that an enzymatic reaction can be disrupted by reducing or eliminating reactions encoded by a common gene and/or by one or more orthologs of that gene exhibiting similar or substantially the same activity. Reduction of both the common gene and all orthologs can lead to complete abolishment of any catalytic activity of a targeted reaction. However, disruption of either the common gene or one or more orthologs can lead to a reduction in the catalytic activity of the targeted reaction sufficient to promote coupling of growth to product biosynthesis. Exemplified herein are both the common genes encoding catalytic activities for a variety of metabolic modifications as well as their orthologs. Those skilled in the art will understand that disruption of some or all of the genes encoding a enzyme of a targeted metabolic reaction can be practiced in the methods of the invention and incorporated into the non-naturally occurring microbial organisms of the invention in order to achieve the increased production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate or growth-coupled product production.

Given the teachings and guidance provided herein, those skilled in the art also will understand that enzymatic activity or expression can be attenuated using well known methods. Reduction of the activity or amount of an enzyme can mimic complete disruption of a gene if the reduction causes activity of the enzyme to fall below a critical level that is normally required for a pathway to function. Reduction of enzymatic activity by various techniques rather than use of a gene disruption can be important for an organism's viability. Methods of reducing enzymatic activity that result in similar or identical effects of a gene disruption include, but are not limited to: reducing gene transcription or translation; destabilizing mRNA, protein or catalytic RNA; and mutating a gene that affects enzyme activity or kinetics (See, Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Third Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York (2001); and Ausubel et al., Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley and Sons, Baltimore, Md. (1999). Natural or imposed regulatory controls can also accomplish enzyme attenuation including: promoter replacement (See, Wang et al., Mol. Biotechnol. 52(2):300-308 (2012)); loss or alteration of transcription factors (Dietrick et al., Annu. Rev. Biochem. 79:563-590 (2010); and Simicevic et al., Mol. Biosyst. 6(3):462-468 (2010)); introduction of inhibitory RNAs or peptides such as siRNA, antisense RNA, RNA or peptide/small-molecule binding aptamers, ribozymes, aptazymes and riboswitches (Wieland et al., Methods 56(3):351-357 (2012); O'Sullivan, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 372(1):44-48 (2002); and Lee et al., Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 14(5):505-511 (2003)); and addition of drugs or other chemicals that reduce or disrupt enzymatic activity such as an enzyme inhibitor, an antibiotic or a target-specific drug.

One skilled in the art will also understand and recognize that attenuation of an enzyme can be done at various levels. For example, at the gene level, a mutation causing a partial or complete null phenotype, such as a gene disruption, or a mutation causing epistatic genetic effects that mask the activity of a gene product (Miko, Nature Education 1(1) (2008)), can be used to attenuate an enzyme. At the gene expression level, methods for attenuation include: coupling transcription to an endogenous or exogenous inducer, such as isopropylthio-β-galactoside (IPTG), then adding low amounts of inducer or no inducer during the production phase (Donovan et al., J. Ind. Microbiol. 16(3):145-154 (1996); and Hansen et al., Curr. Microbiol. 36(6):341-347 (1998)); introducing or modifying a positive or a negative regulator of a gene; modify histone acetylation/deacetylation in a eukaryotic chromosomal region where a gene is integrated (Yang et al., Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 13(2):143-153 (2003) and Kurdistani et al., Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 4(4):276-284 (2003)); introducing a transposition to disrupt a promoter or a regulatory gene (Bleykasten-Brosshans et al., C. R. Biol. 33(8-9):679-686 (2011); and McCue et al., PLoS Genet. 8(2):e1002474 (2012)); flipping the orientation of a transposable element or promoter region so as to modulate gene expression of an adjacent gene (Wang et al., Genetics 120(4):875-885 (1988); Hayes, Annu. Rev. Genet. 37:3-29 (2003); in a diploid organism, deleting one allele resulting in loss of heterozygosity (Daigaku et al., Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis 600(1-2) 177-183 (2006)); introducing nucleic acids that increase RNA degradation (Houseley et al., Cell, 136(4):763-776 (2009); or in bacteria, for example, introduction of a transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA) tag, which can lead to RNA degradation and ribosomal stalling (Sunohara et al., RNA 10(3):378-386 (2004); and Sunohara et al., J. Biol. Chem. 279:15368-15375 (2004)). At the translational level, attenuation can include: introducing rare codons to limit translation (Angov, Biotechnol. J. 6(6):650-659 (2011)); introducing RNA interference molecules that block translation (Castel et al., Nat. Rev. Genet. 14(2):100-112 (2013); and Kawasaki et al., Curr. Opin. Mol. Ther. 7(2):125-131 (2005); modifying regions outside the coding sequence, such as introducing secondary structure into an untranslated region (UTR) to block translation or reduce efficiency of translation (Ringnér et al., PLoS Comput. Biol. 1(7):e72 (2005)); adding RNAase sites for rapid transcript degradation (Pasquinelli, Nat. Rev. Genet. 13(4):271-282 (2012); and Arraiano et al., FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 34(5):883-932 (2010); introducing antisense RNA oligomers or antisense transcripts (Nashizawa et al., Front. Biosci. 17:938-958 (2012)); introducing RNA or peptide aptamers, ribozymes, aptazymes, riboswitches (Wieland et al., Methods 56(3):351-357 (2012); O'Sullivan, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 372(1):44-48 (2002); and Lee et al., Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 14(5):505-511 (2003)); or introducing translational regulatory elements involving RNA structure that can prevent or reduce translation that can be controlled by the presence or absence of small molecules (Araujo et al., Comparative and Functional Genomics, Article ID 475731, 8 pages (2012)). At the level of enzyme localization and/or longevity, enzyme attenuation can include: adding a degradation tag for faster protein turnover (Hochstrasser, Annual Rev. Genet. 30:405-439 (1996); and Yuan et al., PLoS One 8(4):e62529 (2013)); or adding a localization tag that results in the enzyme being secreted or localized to a subcellular compartment in a eukaryotic cell, where the enzyme would not be able to react with its normal substrate (Nakai et al. Genomics 14(4):897-911 (1992); and Russell et al., J. Bact. 189(21) 7581-7585 (2007)). At the level of post-translational regulation, enzyme attenuation can include: increasing intracellular concentration of known inhibitors; or modifying post-translational modified sites (Mann et al., Nature Biotech. 21:255-261 (2003)). At the level of enzyme activity, enzyme attenuation can include: adding an endogenous or an exogenous inhibitor, such as an enzyme inhibitor, an antibiotic or a target-specific drug, to reduce enzyme activity; limiting availability of essential cofactors, such as vitamin B12, for an enzyme that requires the cofactor; chelating a metal ion that is required for enzyme activity; or introducing a dominant negative mutation. The applicability of a technique for attenuation described above can depend upon whether a given host microbial organism is prokaryotic or eukaryotic, and it is understand that a determination of what is the appropriate technique for a given host can be readily made by one skilled in the art.

In some embodiments, microaerobic designs can be used based on the growth-coupled formation of the desired product. To examine this, production cones can be constructed for each strategy by first maximizing and, subsequently minimizing the product yields at different rates of biomass formation feasible in the network. If the rightmost boundary of all possible phenotypes of the mutant network is a single point, it implies that there is a unique optimum yield of the product at the maximum biomass formation rate possible in the network. In other cases, the rightmost boundary of the feasible phenotypes is a vertical line, indicating that at the point of maximum biomass the network can make any amount of the product in the calculated range, including the lowest amount at the bottommost point of the vertical line. Such designs are given a low priority.

The butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate-production strategies identified by the methods disclosed herein such as the OptKnock framework are generally ranked on the basis of their (i) theoretical yields, and (ii) growth-coupled butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate formation characteristics. For the designs disclosed herein, the genes that can be disrupted to increase production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate are shown in FIG. 3.

Accordingly, the invention also provides a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a set of metabolic modifications coupling butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production to growth of the organism, where the set of metabolic modifications includes disruption of one or more genes selected from the set of genes encoding proteins as in FIG. 3.

Each of the strains can be supplemented with additional deletions if it is determined that the strain designs do not sufficiently increase the production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate and/or couple the formation of the product with biomass formation. Alternatively, some other enzymes not known to possess significant activity under the growth conditions can become active due to adaptive evolution or random mutagenesis. Such activities can also be knocked out. However, the list of gene deletion sets disclosed herein allows the construction of strains exhibiting high-yield production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, including growth-coupled production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate.

Butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be harvested or isolated at any time point during the culturing of the microbial organism, for example, in a continuous and/or near-continuous culture period, as disclosed herein. Generally, the longer the microorganisms are maintained in a continuous and/or near-continuous growth phase, the proportionally greater amount of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate can be produced.

Therefore, the invention additionally provides a method for producing butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate that includes culturing a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having one or more gene disruptions, as disclosed herein. The disruptions can occur in one or more genes encoding an enzyme that increases production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, including optionally coupling butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production to growth of the microorganism when the gene disruption reduces or eliminates an activity of the enzyme. For example, the disruptions can confer stable growth-coupled production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate onto the non-naturally microbial organism.

In some embodiments, the gene disruption can include a complete gene deletion. In some embodiments other methods to disrupt a gene include, for example, frameshifting by omission or addition of oligonucleotides or by mutations that render the gene inoperable. One skilled in the art will recognize the advantages of gene deletions, however, because of the stability it confers to the non-naturally occurring organism from reverting to a parental phenotype in which the gene disruption has not occurred. In particular, the gene disruptions are selected from the gene sets as disclosed herein.

Once computational predictions are made of gene sets for disruption to increase production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate, the strains can be constructed, evolved, and tested. Gene disruptions, including gene deletions, are introduced into host organism by methods well known in the art. A particularly useful method for gene disruption is by hom*ologous recombination, as disclosed herein.

The engineered strains can be characterized by measuring the growth rate, the substrate uptake rate, and/or the product/byproduct secretion rate. Cultures can be grown and used as inoculum for a fresh batch culture for which measurements are taken during exponential growth. The growth rate can be determined by measuring optical density using a spectrophotometer (A600). Concentrations of glucose and other organic acid byproducts in the culture supernatant can be determined by well known methods such as HPLC, GC-MS or other well known analytical methods suitable for the analysis of the desired product, as disclosed herein, and used to calculate uptake and secretion rates.

Strains containing gene disruptions can exhibit suboptimal growth rates until their metabolic networks have adjusted to their missing functionalities. To assist in this adjustment, the strains can be adaptively evolved. By subjecting the strains to adaptive evolution, cellular growth rate becomes the primary selection pressure and the mutant cells are compelled to reallocate their metabolic fluxes in order to enhance their rates of growth. This reprogramming of metabolism has been recently demonstrated for several E. coli mutants that had been adaptively evolved on various substrates to reach the growth rates predicted a priori by an in silico model (Fong and Palsson, Nat. Genet. 36:1056-1058 (2004)). The growth improvements brought about by adaptive evolution can be accompanied by enhanced rates of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production. The strains are generally adaptively evolved in replicate, running in parallel, to account for differences in the evolutionary patterns that can be exhibited by a host organism (Fong and Palsson, Nat. Genet. 36:1056-1058 (2004); Fong et al., J. Bacteriol. 185:6400-6408 (2003); Ibarra et al., Nature 420:186-189 (2002)) that could potentially result in one strain having superior production qualities over the others. Evolutions can be run for a period of time, typically 2-6 weeks, depending upon the rate of growth improvement attained. In general, evolutions are stopped once a stable phenotype is obtained.

Following the adaptive evolution process, the new strains are characterized again by measuring the growth rate, the substrate uptake rate, and the product/byproduct secretion rate. These results are compared to the theoretical predictions by plotting actual growth and production yields along side the production envelopes from metabolic modeling. The most successful design/evolution combinations are chosen to pursue further, and are characterized in lab-scale batch and continuous fermentations. The growth-coupled biochemical production concept behind the methods disclosed herein such as OptKnock approach should also result in the generation of genetically stable overproducers. Thus, the cultures are maintained in continuous mode for an extended period of time, for example, one month or more, to evaluate long-term stability. Periodic samples can be taken to ensure that yield and productivity are maintained.

Adaptive evolution is a powerful technique that can be used to increase growth rates of mutant or engineered microbial strains, or of wild-type strains growing under unnatural environmental conditions. It is especially useful for strains designed via methods such as OptKnock, which results in growth-coupled product formation. Therefore, evolution toward optimal growing strains will indirectly optimize production as well. Unique strains of E. coli K-12 MG1655 were created through gene knockouts and adaptive evolution. (Fong and Palsson, Nat. Genet. 36:1056-1058 (2004)). In this work, all adaptive evolutionary cultures were maintained in prolonged exponential growth by serial passage of batch cultures into fresh medium before the stationary phase was reached, thus rendering growth rate as the primary selection pressure. Knockout strains were constructed and evolved on minimal medium supplemented with different carbon substrates (four for each knockout strain). Evolution cultures were carried out in duplicate or triplicate, giving a total of 50 evolution knockout strains. The evolution cultures were maintained in exponential growth until a stable growth rate was reached. The computational predictions were accurate (within 10%) at predicting the post-evolution growth rate of the knockout strains in 38 out of the 50 cases examined. Furthermore, a combination of OptKnock design with adaptive evolution has led to improved lactic acid production strains. (Fong et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 91:643-648 (2005)). Similar methods can be applied to the strains disclosed herein and applied to various host strains.

There are a number of developed technologies for carrying out adaptive evolution. Exemplary methods are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, optimization of a non-naturally occurring organism of the present invention includes utilizing adaptive evolution techniques to increase butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production and/or stability of the producing strain.

Serial culture involves repetitive transfer of a small volume of grown culture to a much larger vessel containing fresh growth medium. When the cultured organisms have grown to saturation in the new vessel, the process is repeated. This method has been used to achieve the longest demonstrations of sustained culture in the literature (Lenski and Travisano, Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. USA 91:6808-6814 (1994)) in experiments which clearly demonstrated consistent improvement in reproductive rate over a period of years. Typically, transfer of cultures is usually performed during exponential phase, so each day the transfer volume is precisely calculated to maintain exponential growth through the next 24 hour period. Manual serial dilution is inexpensive and easy to parallelize.

In continuous culture the growth of cells in a chemostat represents an extreme case of dilution in which a very high fraction of the cell population remains. As a culture grows and becomes saturated, a small proportion of the grown culture is replaced with fresh media, allowing the culture to continually grow at close to its maximum population size. Chemostats have been used to demonstrate short periods of rapid improvement in reproductive rate (Dykhuizen, Methods Enzymol. 613-631 (1993)). The potential usefulness of these devices was recognized, but traditional chemostats were unable to sustain long periods of selection for increased reproduction rate, due to the unintended selection of dilution-resistant (static) variants. These variants are able to resist dilution by adhering to the surface of the chemostat, and by doing so, outcompete less adherent individuals, including those that have higher reproductive rates, thus obviating the intended purpose of the device (Chao and Ramsdell, J. Gen. Microbiol 20:132-138 (1985)). One possible way to overcome this drawback is the implementation of a device with two growth chambers, which periodically undergo transient phases of sterilization, as described previously (Marliere and Mutzel, U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,194).

Evolugator™ is a continuous culture device developed by Evolugate, LLC (Gainesville, Fla.) and exhibits significant time and effort savings over traditional evolution techniques (de Crecy et al., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 77:489-496 (2007)). The cells are maintained in prolonged exponential growth by the serial passage of batch cultures into fresh medium before the stationary phase is attained. By automating optical density measurement and liquid handling, the Evolugator™ can perform serial transfer at high rates using large culture volumes, thus approaching the efficiency of a chemostat in evolution of cell fitness. For example, a mutant of Acinetobacter sp ADP1 deficient in a component of the translation apparatus, and having severely hampered growth, was evolved in 200 generations to 80% of the wild-type growth rate. However, in contrast to the chemostat which maintains cells in a single vessel, the machine operates by moving from one “reactor” to the next in subdivided regions of a spool of tubing, thus eliminating any selection for wall-growth. The transfer volume is adjustable, and normally set to about 50%. A drawback to this device is that it is large and costly, thus running large numbers of evolutions in parallel is not practical. Furthermore, gas addition is not well regulated, and strict anaerobic conditions are not maintained with the current device configuration. Nevertheless, this is an alternative method to adaptively evolve a production strain.

As disclosed herein, a nucleic acid encoding a desired activity of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway can be introduced into a host organism. In some cases, it can be desirable to modify an activity of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate pathway enzyme or protein to increase production of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. For example, known mutations that increase the activity of a protein or enzyme can be introduced into an encoding nucleic acid molecule. Additionally, optimization methods can be applied to increase the activity of an enzyme or protein and/or decrease an inhibitory activity, for example, decrease the activity of a negative regulator.

One such optimization method is directed evolution. Directed evolution is a powerful approach that involves the introduction of mutations targeted to a specific gene in order to improve and/or alter the properties of an enzyme. Improved and/or altered enzymes can be identified through the development and implementation of sensitive high-throughput screening assays that allow the automated screening of many enzyme variants (for example, >10⁴). Iterative rounds of mutagenesis and screening typically are performed to afford an enzyme with optimized properties. Computational algorithms that can help to identify areas of the gene for mutagenesis also have been developed and can significantly reduce the number of enzyme variants that need to be generated and screened. Numerous directed evolution technologies have been developed (for reviews, see Hibbert et al., Biomol. Eng 22:11-19 (2005); Huisman and Lalonde, In Biocatalysis in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries pgs. 717-742 (2007), Patel (ed.), CRC Press; Otten and Quax. Biomol. Eng 22:1-9 (2005); and Sen et al., Appl Biochem. Biotechnol 143:212-223 (2007)) to be effective at creating diverse variant libraries, and these methods have been successfully applied to the improvement of a wide range of properties across many enzyme classes. Enzyme characteristics that have been improved and/or altered by directed evolution technologies include, for example: selectivity/specificity, for conversion of non-natural substrates; temperature stability, for robust high temperature processing; pH stability, for bioprocessing under lower or higher pH conditions; substrate or product tolerance, so that high product titers can be achieved; binding (K_m), including broadening substrate binding to include non-natural substrates; inhibition (K_i), to remove inhibition by products, substrates, or key intermediates; activity (kcat), to increases enzymatic reaction rates to achieve desired flux; expression levels, to increase protein yields and overall pathway flux; oxygen stability, for operation of air sensitive enzymes under aerobic conditions; and anaerobic activity, for operation of an aerobic enzyme in the absence of oxygen.

A number of exemplary methods have been developed for the mutagenesis and diversification of genes to target desired properties of specific enzymes. Such methods are well known to those skilled in the art. Any of these can be used to alter and/or optimize the activity of a butadiene or 2,4-pentadionate pathway enzyme or protein. Such methods include, but are not limited to EpPCR, which introduces random point mutations by reducing the fidelity of DNA polymerase in PCR reactions (Pritchard et al., J Theor. Biol. 234:497-509 (2005)); Error-prone Rolling Circle Amplification (epRCA), which is similar to epPCR except a whole circular plasmid is used as the template and random 6-mers with exonuclease resistant thiophosphate linkages on the last 2 nucleotides are used to amplify the plasmid followed by transformation into cells in which the plasmid is re-circularized at tandem repeats (Fujii et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 32:e145 (2004); and Fujii et al., Nat. Protoc. 1:2493-2497 (2006)); DNA or Family Shuffling, which typically involves digestion of two or more variant genes with nucleases such as Dnase I or EndoV to generate a pool of random fragments that are reassembled by cycles of annealing and extension in the presence of DNA polymerase to create a library of chimeric genes (Stemmer, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:10747-10751 (1994); and Stemmer, Nature 370:389-391 (1994)); Staggered Extension (StEP), which entails template priming followed by repeated cycles of 2 step PCR with denaturation and very short duration of annealing/extension (as short as 5 sec) (Zhao et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 16:258-261 (1998)); Random Priming Recombination (RPR), in which random sequence primers are used to generate many short DNA fragments complementary to different segments of the template (Shao et al., Nucleic Acids Res 26:681-683 (1998)).

Additional methods include Heteroduplex Recombination, in which linearized plasmid DNA is used to form heteroduplexes that are repaired by mismatch repair (Volkov et al, Nucleic Acids Res. 27:e18 (1999); and Volkov et al., Methods Enzymol. 328:456-463 (2000)); Random Chimeragenesis on Transient Templates (RACHITT), which employs Dnase I fragmentation and size fractionation of single stranded DNA (ssDNA) (Coco et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 19:354-359 (2001)); Recombined Extension on Truncated templates (RETT), which entails template switching of unidirectionally growing strands from primers in the presence of unidirectional ssDNA fragments used as a pool of templates (Lee et al., J. Molec. Catalysis 26:119-129 (2003)); Degenerate Oligonucleotide Gene Shuffling (DOGS), in which degenerate primers are used to control recombination between molecules; (Bergquist and Gibbs, Methods Mol. Biol 352:191-204 (2007); Bergquist et al., Biomol. Eng 22:63-72 (2005); Gibbs et al., Gene 271:13-20 (2001)); Incremental Truncation for the Creation of Hybrid Enzymes (ITCHY), which creates a combinatorial library with 1 base pair deletions of a gene or gene fragment of interest (Ostermeier et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:3562-3567 (1999); and Ostermeier et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 17:1205-1209 (1999)); Thio-Incremental Truncation for the Creation of Hybrid Enzymes (THIO-ITCHY), which is similar to ITCHY except that phosphothioate dNTPs are used to generate truncations (Lutz et al., Nucleic Acids Res 29:E16 (2001)); SCRATCHY, which combines two methods for recombining genes, ITCHY and DNA shuffling (Lutz et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:11248-11253 (2001)); Random Drift Mutagenesis (RNDM), in which mutations made via epPCR are followed by screening/selection for those retaining usable activity (Bergquist et al., Biomol. Eng. 22:63-72 (2005)); Sequence Saturation Mutagenesis (SeSaM), a random mutagenesis method that generates a pool of random length fragments using random incorporation of a phosphothioate nucleotide and cleavage, which is used as a template to extend in the presence of “universal” bases such as inosine, and replication of an inosine-containing complement gives random base incorporation and, consequently, mutagenesis (Wong et al., Biotechnol. J. 3:74-82 (2008); Wong et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 32:e26 (2004); and Wong et al., Anal. Biochem. 341:187-189 (2005)); Synthetic Shuffling, which uses overlapping oligonucleotides designed to encode “all genetic diversity in targets” and allows a very high diversity for the shuffled progeny (Ness et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 20:1251-1255 (2002)); Nucleotide Exchange and Excision Technology NexT, which exploits a combination of dUTP incorporation followed by treatment with uracil DNA glycosylase and then piperidine to perform endpoint DNA fragmentation (Muller et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 33:e117 (2005)).

Further methods include Sequence hom*ology-Independent Protein Recombination (SHIPREC), in which a linker is used to facilitate fusion between two distantly related or unrelated genes, and a range of chimeras is generated between the two genes, resulting in libraries of single-crossover hybrids (Sieber et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 19:456-460 (2001)); Gene Site Saturation Mutagenesis™ (GSSM™), in which the starting materials include a supercoiled double stranded DNA (dsDNA) plasmid containing an insert and two primers which are degenerate at the desired site of mutations (Kretz et al., Methods Enzymol. 388:3-11 (2004)); Combinatorial Cassette Mutagenesis (CCM), which involves the use of short oligonucleotide cassettes to replace limited regions with a large number of possible amino acid sequence alterations (Reidhaar-Olson et al. Methods Enzymol. 208:564-586 (1991); and Reidhaar-Olson et al. Science 241:53-57 (1988)); Combinatorial Multiple Cassette Mutagenesis (CMCM), which is essentially similar to CCM and uses epPCR at high mutation rate to identify hot spots and hot regions and then extension by CMCM to cover a defined region of protein sequence space (Reetz et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed Engl. 40:3589-3591 (2001)); the Mutator Strains technique, in which conditional ts mutator plasmids, utilizing the mutD5 gene, which encodes a mutant subunit of DNA polymerase III, to allow increases of 20 to 4000-× in random and natural mutation frequency during selection and block accumulation of deleterious mutations when selection is not required (Selifonova et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67:3645-3649 (2001)); Low et al., J Mol. Biol. 260:359-3680 (1996)).

Additional exemplary methods include Look-Through Mutagenesis (LTM), which is a multidimensional mutagenesis method that assesses and optimizes combinatorial mutations of selected amino acids (Rajpal et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:8466-8471 (2005)); Gene Reassembly, which is a DNA shuffling method that can be applied to multiple genes at one time or to create a large library of chimeras (multiple mutations) of a single gene (Tunable GeneReassembly™ (TGR™) Technology supplied by Verenium Corporation), in Silico Protein Design Automation (PDA), which is an optimization algorithm that anchors the structurally defined protein backbone possessing a particular fold, and searches sequence space for amino acid substitutions that can stabilize the fold and overall protein energetics, and generally works most effectively on proteins with known three-dimensional structures (Hayes et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:15926-15931 (2002)); and Iterative Saturation Mutagenesis (ISM), which involves using knowledge of structure/function to choose a likely site for enzyme improvement, performing saturation mutagenesis at chosen site using a mutagenesis method such as Stratagene QuikChange (Stratagene; San Diego Calif.), screening/selecting for desired properties, and, using improved clone(s), starting over at another site and continue repeating until a desired activity is achieved (Reetz et al., Nat. Protoc. 2:891-903 (2007); and Reetz et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed Engl. 45:7745-7751 (2006)).

Any of the aforementioned methods for mutagenesis can be used alone or in any combination. Additionally, any one or combination of the directed evolution methods can be used in conjunction with adaptive evolution techniques, as described herein.

Pathways to butadiene and 2,4-pentadienoate are shown in FIG. 1. These pathways start with intermediates of central metabolism, pyruvate and acetyl-CoA. Acetyl-CoA is reduced to acetaldehyde by an acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase followed by an aldolase combining pyruvate and acetaldehyde to form 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate (Steps A and B). In several organisms, as described in more detail below, a bifunctional enzyme can carry out these two steps and the toxic intermediate, acetaldehyde, is not released but is rather channeled within the enzyme. 4-hydroxy 2-oxovalerate can then dehydrated to form 2-oxopentenoate (Step C). Subsequently, this metabolite can be reduced to form 2-hydroxypentenoate (Step D). 2-hydroxypentenoate can be dehydrated to form 2,4-pentadienoate that can be further decaboxylated to form butadiene (Steps E and F respectively).

Alternatively, 2-oxopentenoate can be activated to form 2-oxopentenoyl-CoA either by a ligase or a CoA transferase (Steps G and H) that can then be reduced to form 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA (Step I). The latter can be dehydrated to form 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA (Step L) which is converted to 2,4-pentadienoate either by a CoA hydrolase or a CoA tranferase (Step M or N). 2-Hydroxypentenoate can also be activated to form 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA as shown in Steps J and K, which can then be converted to 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA as discussed above. In all the pathway combinations outlined herein, the activation of the acid intermediate to its CoA form can also be enabled by a CoA synthetase. This enzyme requires 2 ATP equivalents for achieving this activation.

This set of pathways via 2,4-pentadienoate affords a theoretical maximum yield of 1 mol butadiene per mole glucose (0.3 g/g) as shown below:
C₆H₁₂O₆═C₄H₆+H₂+2CO₂+2H₂O

The pathway has a net excess redox of 1 mole/mole butadiene produced. The energetics of the pathway are quite favorable and the pathway through steps A-F has a net excess of 2 moles ATP/mole butadiene produced. If any other permutations of the pathway that activate the acid intermediates to CoA via a ligase or a transferase are used along with a CoA hydrolase, one ATP is required. This still keeps the pathway energetically favorable and brings the net ATP to 1 mole per mole butadiene produced. However, if a CoA transferase is used in Steps G or J along with a CoA transferase in Step N, the net ATP produced by the pathway still stays at 2 moles ATP/mole glucose.

One advantage of having a butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate producing pathway that generates ATP is producing butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate anaerobically. Anaerobic processes can be desirable due to the risk of explosion when oxygen is mixed with butadiene in a fermenter. Moreover, the presence of oxygen can be undesired because of its potential to cause polymerization of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. Anaerobic production can be obtained by coproduction of succinate or other by products with butadiene as described previously (see, e.g., WO/2014/063156A3, WO/2014/063156A2, WO/2014/055649A1, WO/2013/192183A1). However, this can cause carbon from the substrate to be lost to other products and result in reduction of the theoretical yield of butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate. A more preferred an anerobic process for butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production is where butadiede or 2,4-pentadienoate is produced either solely or with hydrogen such that no carbon is lost to other byproducts. For example, the pathways shown in FIG. 1 afford a maximum yield of 1 mole butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate per mole glucose as shown below:
C₆H₁₂O₆=C₄H₆+H₂+2CO₂+2H₂O

In this scenario, an excess of reducing equivalents is generated by the pathway. Since the pathway itself generates ATP, it is not required to donate the excess electrons to oxygen for oxidative phosphorylation and generation of ATP. Instead the reducing equivalent can be used for the formation of hydrogen via hydrogenases. Exemplary enzymes for these are described herein (Example XI). Further, the pathways shown in FIG. 1 proceed via acetyl-CoA and pyruvate and are amenable to carbon savings via the use of phospoketolase-dependent Acetyl-CoA synthesis pathway (Example VI). This will allow the theoretical yield of the pathway to be improved to 1.09 mole/mole as shown below and depicted in detail in FIG. 5:
C₆H₁₂O₆=1.091C₄H₆+1.636CO₂+2.727H₂O

The reduction of acetyl-CoA to acetaldehyde can be catalyzed by NAD(P)+-dependent acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.10). Acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenases of E. coli are encoded by adhE and mhpF (Ferrandez et al, J Bacteriol 179:2573-81 (1997)). The Pseudomonas sp. CF600 enzyme, encoded by dmpF, participates in meta-cleavage pathways and forms a complex with 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate aldolase (Shingler et al, J Bacteriol 174:711-24 (1992)). BphJ, a nonphosphorylating acylating aldehyde dehydrogenase, catalyzes the conversion of aldehydes to form acyl-coenzyme A in the presence of NAD(+) and coenzyme A (CoA) (Baker et al., Biochemistry, 2012 Jun. 5; 51(22):4558-67. Epub 2012 May 21). Solventogenic organisms such as Clostridium acetobutylicum encode bifunctional enzymes with alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase activities. The bifunctional C. acetobutylicum enzymes are encoded by bdh I and adhE2 (Walter, et al., J. Bacteriol. 174:7149-7158 (1992); Fontaine et al., J. Bacteriol. 184:821-830 (2002)). Yet another candidate for acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is the aid gene from Clostridium beijerinckii (Toth, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:4973-4980 (1999). This gene is very similar to the eutE acetaldehyde dehydrogenase genes of Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli (Toth, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:4973-4980 (1999).

Other acyl-CoA dehydrogenases that reduce an acyl-CoA to its corresponding aldehyde include fatty acyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.2.1.42, 1.2.1.50), succinyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.2.1.76), acetyl-CoA reductase, butyryl-CoA reductase and propionyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.2.1.3). Aldehyde forming acyl-CoA reductase enzymes with demonstrated activity on acyl-CoA, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA and 3-oxoacyl-CoA substrates are known in the literature. Several acyl-CoA reductase enzymes are active on 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA substrates. For example, some butyryl-CoA reductases from Clostridial organisms, are active on 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA and propionyl-CoA reductase of L. reuteri is active on 3-hydroxypropionyl-CoA. An enzyme for converting 3-oxoacyl-CoA substrates to their corresponding aldehydes is malonyl-CoA reductase. Enzymes in this class can be refined using evolution or enzyme engineering methods known in the art to have activity on enoyl-CoA substrates.

Exemplary fatty acyl-CoA reductases enzymes are encoded by acr1 of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (Reiser, Journal of Bacteriology 179:2969-2975 (1997)) and Acinetobacter sp. M-1 (Ishige et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:1192-1195 (2002)). Two gene products from Mycobacterium tuberculosis accept longer chain fatty acyl-CoA substrates of length C16-C18 (Harminder Singh, U. Central Florida (2007)). Yet another fatty acyl-CoA reductase is LuxC of Photobacterium phosphoreum (Lee et al, Biochim Biohys Acta 1388:215-22 (1997)). Enzymes with succinyl-CoA reductase activity are encoded by sucD of Clostridium kluyveri (Sohling, J. Bacteriol. 178:871-880 (1996)) and sucD of P. gingivalis (Takahashi, J. Bacteriol 182:4704-4710 (2000)). Additional succinyl-CoA reductase enzymes participate in the 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle of thermophilic archaea including Metallosphaera sedula (Berg et al., Science 318:1782-1786 (2007)) and Thermoproteus neutrophilus (Ramos-Vera et al., J. Bacteriol, 191:4286-4297 (2009)). The M. sedula enzyme, encoded by Msed_0709, is strictly NADPH-dependent and also has malonyl-CoA reductase activity. The T. neutrophilus enzyme is active with both NADPH and NADH. The enzyme acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in Pseudomonas sp, encoded by bphG, is yet another as it has been demonstrated to oxidize and acylate acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, butyraldehyde, isobutyraldehyde and formaldehyde (Powlowski, J. Bacteriol. 175:377-385 (1993)). In addition to reducing acetyl-CoA to ethanol, the enzyme encoded by adhE in Leuconostoc mesenteroides has been shown to oxidize the branched chain compound isobutyraldehyde to isobutyryl-CoA (Kazahaya, J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. 18:43-55 (1972); and Koo et al., Biotechnol Lett. 27:505-510 (2005)). Butyraldehyde dehydrogenase catalyzes a similar reaction, conversion of butyryl-CoA to butyraldehyde, in solventogenic organisms such as Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum (Kosaka et al., Biosci Biotechnol Biochem., 71:58-68 (2007)). Exemplary propionyl-CoA reductase enzymes include pduP of Salmonella typhimurium LT2 (Leal, Arch. Microbiol. 180:353-361 (2003)) and eutE from E. coli (Skraly, WO Patent No. 2004/024876). The propionyl-CoA reductase of Salmonella typhimurium LT2, which naturally converts propionyl-CoA to propionaldehyde, also catalyzes the reduction of 5-hydroxyvaleryl-CoA to 5-hydroxypentanal (WO 2010/068953A2). The propionaldehyde dehydrogenase of Lactobacillus reuteri, PduP, has a broad substrate range that includes butyraldehyde, valeraldehyde and 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (Luo et al, Appl Microbiol Biotech, 89: 697-703 (2011)). Additionally, some acyl-ACP reductase enzymes such as the orf1594 gene product of Synechococcus elongatus PCC7942 also exhibit aldehyde-forming acyl-CoA reductase activity (Schirmer et al, Science, 329: 559-62 (2010)).

Additionally, some acyl-ACP reductase enzymes such as the orf1594 gene product of Synechococcus elongatus PCC7942 also exhibit aldehyde-forming acyl-CoA reductase activity (Schirmer et al, Science, 329: 559-62 (2010)). The S. elongates PCC7942 acyl-ACP reductase is coexpressed with an aldehyde decarbonylase in an operon that appears to be conserved in a majority of cyanobacterial organisms. This enzyme, expressed in E. coli together with the aldehyde decarbonylase, conferred the ability to produce alkanes. The P. marinus AAR was also cloned into E. coli and, together with a decarbonylase, demonstrated production of alkanes (see, e.g., US Application 2011/0207203).

An additional enzyme type that converts an acyl-CoA to its corresponding aldehyde is malonyl-CoA reductase which transforms malonyl-CoA to malonic semialdehyde. Malonyl-CoA reductase is a key enzyme in autotrophic carbon fixation via the 3-hydroxypropionate cycle in thermoacidophilic archaeal bacteria (Berg, Science 318:1782-1786 (2007); and Thauer, Science 318:1732-1733 (2007)). The enzyme utilizes NADPH as a cofactor and has been characterized in Metallosphaera and Sulfolobus sp. (Alber et al., J. Bacteriol. 188:8551-8559 (2006); and Hugler, J. Bacteriol. 184:2404-2410 (2002)). The enzyme is encoded by Msed_0709 in Metallosphaera sedula (Alber et al., J. Bacteriol. 188:8551-8559 (2006); and Berg, Science 318:1782-1786 (2007)). A gene encoding a malonyl-CoA reductase from Sulfolobus tokodaii was cloned and heterologously expressed in E. coli (Alber et al., J. Bacteriol 188:8551-8559 (2006). This enzyme has also been shown to catalyze the conversion of methylmalonyl-CoA to its corresponding aldehyde (WO2007141208 (2007)). Although the aldehyde dehydrogenase functionality of these enzymes is similar to the bifunctional dehydrogenase from Chloroflexus aurantiacus, there is little sequence similarity. Both malonyl-CoA reductase enzyme candidates have high sequence similarity to aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase, an enzyme catalyzing the reduction and concurrent dephosphorylation of aspartyl-4-phosphate to aspartate semialdehyde. Additional gene candidates can be found by sequence hom*ology to proteins in other organisms including Sulfolobus solfataricus and Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and have been listed below. Yet another candidate for CoA-acylating aldehyde dehydrogenase is the ald gene from Clostridium beijerinckii (Toth, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:4973-4980 (1999). This enzyme has been reported to reduce acetyl-CoA and butyryl-CoA to their corresponding aldehydes. This gene is very similar to eutE that encodes acetaldehyde dehydrogenase of Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli (Toth, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:4973-4980 (1999).

The condensation of pyruvate and acetaldehyde to 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate is catalyzed by 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate aldolase (EC 4.1.3.39). This enzyme participates in pathways for the degradation of phenols, cresols and catechols. The E. coli enzyme, encoded by mhpE, is highly specific for acetaldehyde as an acceptor but accepts the alternate substrates 2-ketobutyrate or phenylpyruvate as donors (Pollard et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 64:4093-4094 (1998)). Similar enzymes are encoded by the cmtG and todH genes of Pseudomonas putida (Lau et al., Gene 146:7-13 (1994); Eaton, J. Bacteriol. 178:1351-1362 (1996)). In Pseudomonas CF600, this enzyme is part of a bifunctional aldolase-dehydrogenase heterodimer encoded by dmpFG (Manjasetty et al., Acta Crystallogr. D. Biol Crystallogr. 57:582-585 (2001)). The dehydrogenase functionality interconverts acetaldehyde and acetyl-CoA, providing the advantage of reduced cellular concentrations of acetaldehyde, toxic to some cells. It has been shown recently that substrate channeling can occur within this enzyme in the presence of NAD and residues that could play an important role in channeling acetaldehyde into the DmpF site were also identified.

The dehydration of 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate to 2-oxopentenoate is catalyzed by 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.80). 4-Hydroxy-2-oxovalerate hydratase participates in aromatic degradation pathways and is typically co-transcribed with a gene encoding an enzyme with 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate aldolase activity. Exemplary gene products are encoded by mhpD of E. coli (Ferrandez et al., J Bacteriol. 179:2573-2581 (1997); Pollard et al., Eur J Biochem. 251:98-106 (1998)), todG and cmtF of Pseudomonas putida (Lau et al., Gene 146:7-13 (1994); Eaton, J Bacteriol. 178:1351-1362 (1996)), cnbE of Comamonas sp. CNB-1 (Ma et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 73:4477-4483 (2007)) and mhpD of Burkholderia xenovorans (Wang et al., FEBS J 272:966-974 (2005)). A closely related enzyme, 2-oxohepta-4-ene-1,7-dioate hydratase, participates in 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid degradation, where it converts 2-oxo-hept-4-ene-1,7-dioate (OHED) to 2-oxo-4-hydroxy-hepta-1,7-dioate using magnesium as a cofactor (Burks et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120: (1998)). OHED hydratase enzyme candidates have been identified and characterized in E. coli C (Roper et al., Gene 156:47-51 (1995); Izumi et al., J Mol. Biol. 370:899-911 (2007)) and E. coli W (Prieto et al., J Bacteriol. 178:111-120 (1996)). Sequence comparison reveals hom*ologs in a wide range of bacteria, plants and animals. Enzymes with highly similar sequences are contained in Klebsiella pneumonia (91% identity, eval=2e-138) and Salmonella enterica (91% identity, eval=4e-138), among others.

2-(Hydroxymethyl)glutarate dehydratase is a [4Fe-4S]-containing enzyme that dehydrates 2-(hydroxymethyl)glutarate to 2-methylene-glutarate, studied for its role in nicontinate catabolism in Eubacterium barkeri (formerly Clostridium barkeri) (Alhapel et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci 103:12341-6 (2006)). Similar enzymes with high sequence hom*ology are found in Bacteroides capillosus, Anaerotruncus colihominis, and Natranaerobius thermophilius. These enzymes are hom*ologous to the alpha and beta subunits of [4Fe-4S]-containing bacterial serine dehydratases (e.g., E. coli enzymes encoded by tdcG, sdhB, and sdaA). An enzyme with similar functionality in E. barkeri is dimethylmaleate hydratase, a reversible Fe²⁺-dependent and oxygen-sensitive enzyme in the aconitase family that hydrates dimethylmaeate to form (2R,3S)-2,3-dimethylmalate. This enzyme is encoded by dmdAB (Alhapel et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:12341-6 (2006); Kollmann-Koch et al., Hoppe Seylers. Z Physiol Chem. 365:847-857 (1984)).

The reduction of 2-oxopentenoate to 2-hydroxypentenoate is carried out by an alcohol dehydrogenase that reduces a ketone group. Several exemplary alcohol dehydrogenases can catalyze this transformation. Two such enzymes from E. coli are encoded by malate dehydrogenase (mdh) and lactate dehydrogenase (ldhA). In addition, lactate dehydrogenase from Ralstonia eutropha has been shown to demonstrate high activities on 2-ketoacids of various chain lengths including lactate, 2-oxobutyrate, 2-oxopentanoate and 2-oxoglutarate (Steinbuchel et al., Eur. J Biochem. 130:329-334 (1983)). Conversion of alpha-ketoadipate into alpha-hydroxyadipate is catalyzed by 2-ketoadipate reductase, an enzyme found in rat and in human placenta (Suda et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 176:610-620 (1976); Suda et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 77:586-591 (1977)). An additional candidate oxidoreductase is the mitochondrial 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (bdh) from the human heart which has been cloned and characterized (Marks et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267:15459-15463 (1992)). Alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes of C. beijerinckii (Ismaiel et al., J. Bacteriol. 175:5097-5105 (1993)) and T. brockii (Lamed et al., Biochem. J. 195:183-190 (1981); Peretz et al., Biochemistry. 28:6549-6555 (1989)) convert acetone to isopropanol. Methyl ethyl ketone reductase catalyzes the reduction of MEK to 2-butanol. Exemplary MEK reductase enzymes can be found in Rhodococcus ruber (Kosjek et al., Biotechnol Bioeng. 86:55-62 (2004)) and Pyrococcus furiosus (van der et al., Eur. J Biochem. 268:3062-3068 (2001)).

Enzyme candidates for the dehydration of 2-hydroxypentenoate (FIG. 1, Step E) include fumarase (EC 4.2.1.2), citramalate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.34) and dimethylmaleate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.85). Fumarases naturally catalyze the reversible dehydration of malate to fumarate. Although the ability of fumarase to react with 2-hydroxypentenoate as substrates has not been described in the literature, a wealth of structural information is available for this enzyme and other researchers have successfully engineered the enzyme to alter activity, inhibition and localization (Weaver, Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr, 61:1395-1401 (2005)). E. coli has three fumarases: FumA, FumB, and FumC that are regulated by growth conditions. FumB is oxygen sensitive and only active under anaerobic conditions. FumA is active under microanaerobic conditions, and FumC is the only active enzyme in aerobic growth (Tseng et al., J Bacteriol, 183:461-467 (2001); Woods et al., 954:14-26 (1988); Guest et al., J Gen Microbiol 131:2971-2984 (1985)). Additional enzyme candidates are found in Campylobacter jejuni (Smith et al., Int. J Biochem. Cell Biol 31:961-975 (1999)), Thermus thermophilus (Mizobata et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 355:49-55 (1998)) and Rattus norvegicus (Kobayashi et al., J Biochem, 89:1923-1931 (1981)). Similar enzymes with high sequence hom*ology include fum1 from Arabidopsis thaliana and fumC from Corynebacterium glutamicum. The mmcBC fumarase from Pelotomaculum thermopropionicum is another class of fumarase with two subunits (Shimoyama et al., FEMS Microbiol Lett, 270:207-213 (2007)). Citramalate hydrolyase naturally dehydrates 2-methylmalate to mesaconate. This enzyme has been studied in Methanocaldococcus jannaschii in the context of the pyruvate pathway to 2-oxobutanoate, where it has been shown to have a broad substrate specificity (Drevland et al., J Bacteriol. 189:4391-4400 (2007)). This enzyme activity was also detected in Clostridium tetanomorphum, Morganella morganii, Citrobacter amalonaticus where it is thought to participate in glutamate degradation (Kato et al., Arch. Microbiol 168:457-463 (1997)). The M. jannaschii protein sequence does not bear significant hom*ology to genes in these organisms. Dimethylmaleate hydratase is a reversible Fe²⁺-dependent and oxygen-sensitive enzyme in the aconitase family that hydrates dimethylmaeate to form (2R,3S)-2,3-dimethylmalate. This enzyme is encoded by dmdAB in Eubacterium barkeri (Alhapel et al., supra; Kollmann-Koch et al., Hoppe Seylers. Z Physiol Chem. 365:847-857 (1984)).

Oleate hydratases catalyze the reversible hydration of non-activated alkenes to their corresponding alcohols. These enzymes represent additional suitable candidates as suggested in WO2011076691. Oleate hydratases from Elizabethkingia meningoseptica and Streptococcus pyogenes have been characterized (WO 2008/119735). Examples include the following proteins.

The decarboxylation reactions of 2,4-pentadienoate to butadiene (step F of FIG. 1) are catalyzed by enoic acid decarboxylase enzymes. Exemplary enzymes are sorbic acid decarboxylase, aconitate decarboxylase, 4-oxalocrotonate decarboxylase and cinnamate decarboxylase. Sorbic acid decarboxylase converts sorbic acid to 1,3-pentadiene. Sorbic acid decarboxylation by Aspergillus niger requires three genes: padA1, ohbA1, and sdrA (Plumridge et al. Fung. Genet. Bio, 47:683-692 (2010). PadA1 is annotated as a phenylacrylic acid decarboxylase, ohbA1 is a putative 4-hydroxybenzoic acid decarboxylase, and sdrA is a sorbic acid decarboxylase regulator. Additional species have also been shown to decarboxylate sorbic acid including several fungal and yeast species (Kinderlerler and Hatton, Food Addit Contam., 7(5):657-69 (1990); Casas et al., Int J Food Micro., 94(1):93-96 (2004); Pinches and Apps, Int. J Food Microbiol. 116: 182-185 (2007)). For example, Aspergillus oryzae and Neosartorya fischeri have been shown to decarboxylate sorbic acid and have close hom*ologs to padA1, ohbA1, and sdrA.

Aconitate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.6) catalyzes the final step in itaconate biosynthesis in a strain of Candida and also in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus terreus (Bonnarme et al. J Bacteriol. 177:3573-3578 (1995); Willke and Vorlop, Appl Microbiol. Biotechnol 56:289-295 (2001)). A cis-aconitate decarboxylase (CAD) (EC 4.1.16) has been purified and characterized from Aspergillus terreus (Dwiarti et al., J Biosci. Bioeng. 94(1): 29-33 (2002)). Recently, the gene has been cloned and functionally characterized (Kanamasa et al., Appl. Microbiol Biotechnol 80:223-229 (2008)) and (WO/2009/014437). Several close hom*ologs of CAD are listed below (EP 2017344A1; WO 2009/014437 A1). The gene and protein sequence of CAD were reported previously (EP 2017344 A1; WO 2009/014437 A1), along with several close hom*ologs listed in the table below.

An additional class of decarboxylases has been characterized that catalyze the conversion of cinnamate (phenylacrylate) and substituted cinnamate derivatives to the corresponding styrene derivatives. These enzymes are common in a variety of organisms and specific genes encoding these enzymes that have been cloned and expressed in E. coli are: pad 1 from Saccharomyces cerevisae (Clausen et al., Gene 142:107-112 (1994)), pdc from Lactobacillus plantarum (Barthelmebs et al., Appl Environ Microbiol. 67:1063-1069 (2001); Qi et al., Metab Eng 9:268-276 (2007); Rodriguez et al., J. Agric. Food Chem. 56:3068-3072 (2008)), pofK (pad) from Klebsiella oxytoca (Uchiyama et al., Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 72:116-123 (2008); Hashidoko et al., Biosci. Biotech. Biochem. 58:217-218 (1994)), Pedicoccus pentosaceus (Barthelmebs et al., Appl Environ Microbiol. 67:1063-1069 (2001)), and padC from Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus (Shingler et al., J. Bacteriol., 174:711-724 (1992)). A ferulic acid decarboxylase from Pseudomonas fluorescens also has been purified and characterized (Huang et al., J. Bacteriol. 176:5912-5918 (1994)). Importantly, this class of enzymes have been shown to be stable and do not require either exogenous or internally bound co-factors, thus making these enzymes ideally suitable for biotransformations (Sariaslani, Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 61:51-69 (2007)).

4-Oxalocronate decarboxylase catalyzes the decarboxylation of 4-oxalocrotonate to 2-oxopentanoate. This enzyme has been isolated from numerous organisms and characterized. The decarboxylase typically functions in a complex with vinylpyruvate hydratase. Genes encoding this enzyme include dmpH and dmpE in Pseudomonas sp. (strain 600) (Shingler et al., J. Bacteriol., 174:711-724 (1992)), xylII and xylIII from Pseudomonas putida (Kato et al., Arch. Microbiol 168:457-463 (1997); Stanley et al., Biochemistry 39:3514 (2000); Lian et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116:10403-10411 (1994)) and Reut_B5691 and Reut_B5692 from Ralstonia eutropha JMP134 (Hughes et al., J Bacteriol, 158:79-83 (1984)). The genes encoding the enzyme from Pseudomonas sp. (strain 600) have been cloned and expressed in E. coli (Shingler et al., J. Bacteriol. 174:711-724 (1992)). The 4-oxalocrotonate decarboxylase encoded by xylI in Pseudomonas putida functions in a complex with vinylpyruvate hydratase. A recombinant form of this enzyme devoid of the hydratase activity and retaining wild type decarboxylase activity has been characterized (Stanley et al., Biochem. 39:718-26 (2000)). A similar enzyme is found in Ralstonia pickettii (formerly Pseudomonas pickettii) (Kukor et al., J. Bacteriol. 173:4587-94 (1991)).

Numerous characterized enzymes decarboxylate amino acids and similar compounds, including aspartate decarboxylase, lysine decarboxylase and omithine decarboxylase. Aspartate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.11) decarboxylates aspartate to form beta-alanine. This enzyme participates in pantothenate biosynthesis and is encoded by gene panD in Escherichia coli (Dusch et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol 65:1530-1539 (1999); Ramjee et al., Biochem. J 323 (Pt 3):661-669 (1997); Merkel et al., FEMS Microbiol Lett. 143:247-252 (1996); Schmitzberger et al., EMBO J 22:6193-6204 (2003)). The enzymes from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Chopra et al., Protein Expr. Purif 25:533-540 (2002)) and Corynebacterium glutanicum (Dusch et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol 65:1530-1539 (1999)) have been expressed and characterized in E. coli.

Lysine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.18) catalyzes the decarboxylation of lysine to cadaverine. Two isozymes of this enzyme are encoded in the E. coli genome by genes cadA and ldcC. CadA is involved in acid resistance and is subject to positive regulation by the cadC gene product (Lemonnier et al., Microbiology 144 (Pt 3):751-760 (1998)). CadC accepts hydroxylysine and S-aminoethylcysteine as alternate substrates, and 2-aminopimelate and 6-aminocaproate act as competitive inhibitors to this enzyme (Sabo et al., Biochemistry 13:662-670 (1974)). The constitutively expressed ldc gene product is less active than CadA (Lemonnier and Lane, Microbiology 144 (Pt 3):751-760 (1998)). A lysine decarboxylase analogous to CadA was recently identified in Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Tanaka et al., J Appl Microbiol 104:1283-1293 (2008)). The lysine decarboxylase from Selenomonas ruminantium, encoded by ldc, bears sequence similarity to eukaryotic omithine decarboxylases, and accepts both L-lysine and L-omithine as substrates (Takatsuka et al., Biosci. Biotechnol Biochem. 63:1843-1846 (1999)). Active site residues were identified and engineered to alter the substrate specificity of the enzyme (Takatsuka et al., J. Bacteriol. 182:6732-6741 (2000)). Several omithine decarboxylase enzymes (EC 4.1.1.17) also exhibit activity on lysine and other similar compounds. Such enzymes are found in Nicotiana glutinosa (Lee et al., Biochem. J 360:657-665 (2001)), Lactobacillus sp. 30a (Guirard et al., J Biol. Chem. 255:5960-5964 (1980)) and Vibrio vulnificus (Lee et al., J Biol. Chem. 282:27115-27125 (2007)). The enzymes from Lactobacillus sp. 30a (Momany et al., J Mol. Biol. 252:643-655 (1995)) and V. vulnificus have been crystallized. The V. vulnificus enzyme efficiently catalyzes lysine decarboxylation and the residues involved in substrate specificity have been elucidated (Lee et al., J Biol. Chem. 282:27115-27125 (2007)). A similar enzyme has been characterized in Trichom*onas vagin*lis. (Yarlett et al., Biochem. J 293 (Pt 2):487-493 (1993)).

ADP and AMP-forming CoA ligases (6.2.1) with broad substrate specificities have been described in the literature. The ADP-forming acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACD, EC 6.2.1.13) from Archaeoglobus fulgidus, encoded by AF1211, was shown to operate on a variety of linear and branched-chain substrates including isobutyrate, isopentanoate, and fumarate (Musfeldt et al., J. Bacteriol. 184:636-644 (2002)). A second reversible ACD in Archaeoglobus fulgidus, encoded by AF1983, was also indicated to have a broad substrate range (Musfeldt et al., supra). The enzyme from Haloarcula marismortui, annotated as a succinyl-CoA synthetase, accepts propionate, butyrate, and branched-chain acids (isovalerate and isobutyrate) as substrates, and was shown to operate in the forward and reverse directions (Brasen et al., Arch. Microbiol 182:277-287 (2004)). The ACD encoded by PAE3250 from hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum showed the broadest substrate range of all characterized ACDs, reacting with acetyl-CoA, isobutyryl-CoA (preferred substrate) and phenylacetyl-CoA (Brasen and Schonheit, Arch. Microbiol 182:277-287 (2004)). Directed evolution or engineering can be used to modify this enzyme to operate at the physiological temperature of the host organism. The enzymes from A. fulgidus, H. marismortui and P. aerophilum have all been cloned, functionally expressed, and characterized in E. coli (Brasen and Schonheit, Arch. Microbiol 182:277-287 (2004); Musfeldt and Schonheit, J. Bacteriol. 184:636-644 (2002)). An additional enzyme is encoded by sucCD in E. coli, which naturally catalyzes the formation of succinyl-CoA from succinate with the concomitant consumption of one ATP, a reaction which is reversible in vivo (Buck et al., Biochemistry 24:6245-6252 (1985)). The acyl CoA ligase from Pseudomonas putida has been indicated to work on several aliphatic substrates including acetic, propionic, butyric, valeric, hexanoic, heptanoic, and octanoic acids and on aromatic compounds such as phenylacetic and phenoxyacetic acids (Femandez-Valverde et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 59:1149-1154 (1993)). A related enzyme, malonyl CoA synthetase (6.3.4.9) from Rhizobium leguminosarum could convert several diacids, namely, ethyl-, propyl-, allyl-, isopropyl-, dimethyl-, cyclopropyl-, cyclopropylmethylene-, cyclobutyl-, and benzyl-malonate into their corresponding monothioesters (Pohl et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 123:5822-5823 (2001)). Recently, a CoA dependent acetyl-CoA ligase was also identified in Propionibacterium acidipropionici ATCC 4875 (Parizzi et al., BMC Genomics. 2012; 13: 562). This enzyme is distinct from the AMP-dependent acetyl-CoA synthetase and is instead related to the ADP-forming succinyl-CoA synthetase complex (SCSC). Genes related to the SCSC (α and β subunits) complex were also found in Propionibacterium acnes KPA171202 and Microlunatus phophovorus NM-1.

The acylation of acetate to acetyl-CoA is catalyzed by enzymes with acetyl-CoA synthetase activity. Two enzymes that catalyze this reaction are AMP-forming acetyl-CoA synthetase (EC 6.2.1.1) and ADP-forming acetyl-CoA synthetase (EC 6.2.1.13). AMP-forming acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) is the predominant enzyme for activation of acetate to acetyl-CoA. Exemplary ACS enzymes are found in E. coli (Brown et al., J. Gen. Microbiol 102:327-336 (1977)), Ralstonia eutropha (Priefert et al., J. Bacteriol 174:6590-6599 (1992)), Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus (Ingram-Smith et al., Archaea. 2:95-107 (2007)), Salmonella enterica (Gulick et al., Biochemistry 42:2866-2873 (2003)) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Jogl et al., Biochemistry, 43:1425-1431 (2004)).

Methylmalonyl-CoA synthetase from Rhodopseudomonas palustris (MatB) converts methylmalonate and malonate to methylmalonyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA, respectively. Structure-based mutagenesis of this enzyme improved CoA synthetase activity with the alternate substrates ethylmalonate and butylmalonate (Crosby et al, AEM, in press (2012)).

4HB-CoA synthetase catalyzes the ATP-dependent conversion of 4-hydroxybutyrate to 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA. AMP-forming 4-HB-CoA synthetase enzymes are found in organisms that assimilate carbon via the dicarboxylate/hydroxybutyrate cycle or the 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle. Enzymes with this activity have been characterized in Thermoproteus neutrophilus and Metallosphaera sedula (Ramos-Vera et al, J. Bacteriol 192:5329-40(2010); Berg et al, Science 318:1782-6 (2007)). Others can be inferred by sequence hom*ology.

The reduction of 2-oxopentenoyl CoA to 2-hydroxypentanoyl-CoA can be accomplished by 3-oxoacyl-CoA reductase enzymes (EC 1.1.1.35) that typically convert 3-oxoacyl-CoA molecules into 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA molecules and are often involved in fatty acid beta-oxidation or phenylacetate catabolism. For example, subunits of two fatty acid oxidation complexes in E. coli, encoded by fadB and fadJ, function as 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenases (Binstock et al., Methods Enzymol. 71 Pt C:403-411 (1981)). Given the proximity in E. coli of paaH to other genes in the phenylacetate degradation operon (Nogales et al., Microbiology, 153:357-365 (2007)) and the fact that paaH mutants cannot grow on phenylacetate (Ismail et al., Eur. J Biochem. 270:3047-3054 (2003)), it is expected that the E. coli paaH gene also encodes a 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase. Additional 3-oxoacyl-CoA enzymes include the gene products of phaC in Pseudomonas putida (Olivera et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U.S.A 95:6419-6424 (1998)) and paaC in Pseudomonas fluorescens (Di et al., Arch. Microbiol 188:117-125 (2007)). These enzymes catalyze the reversible oxidation of 3-hydroxyadipyl-CoA to 3-oxoadipyl-CoA during the catabolism of phenylacetate or styrene.

Acetoacetyl-CoA reductase participates in the acetyl-CoA fermentation pathway to butyrate in several species of Clostridia and has been studied in detail (Jones et al., Microbiol Rev. 50:484-524 (1986)). The enzyme from Clostridium acetobutylicum, encoded by hbd, has been cloned and functionally expressed in E. coli (Youngleson et al., J. Bacteriol. 171:6800-6807 (1989)). Yet other genes demonstrated to reduce acetoacetyl-CoA to 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA are phbB from Zoogloea ramigera (Ploux et al., Eur. J Biochem. 174:177-182 (1988)) and phaB from Rhodobacter sphaeroides (Alber et al., Mol. Microbiol 61:297-309 (2006)). The former gene is NADPH-dependent, its nucleotide sequence has been determined (Peoples et al., Mol. Microbiol 3:349-357 (1989)) and the gene has been expressed in E. coli. Substrate specificity studies on the gene led to the conclusion that it could accept 3-oxopropionyl-CoA as a substrate besides acetoacetyl-CoA (Ploux et al., Eur. J Biochem. 174:177-182 (1988)). Additional genes include phaB in Paracoccus denitrificans, Hbd1 (C-terminal domain) and Hbd2 (N-terminal domain) in Clostridium kluyveri (Hillmer and Gottschalk, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 3334:12-23 (1974)) and HSD17B10 in Bos taurus (Wakil et al., J Biol. Chem. 207:631-638 (1954)). The enzyme from Paracoccus denitrificans has been functionally expressed and characterized in E. coli (Yabutani et al., FEMS Microbiol Lett. 133:85-90 (1995)). A number of similar enzymes have been found in other species of Clostridia and in Metallosphaera sedula (Berg et al., Science. 318:1782-1786 (2007)). The enzyme from Candida tropicalis is a component of the peroxisomal fatty acid beta-oxidation multifunctional enzyme type 2 (MFE-2). The dehydrogenase B domain of this protein is catalytically active on acetoacetyl-CoA. The domain has been functionally expressed in E. coli, a crystal structure is available, and the catalytic mechanism is well-understood (Ylianttila et al., Biochem Biophys Res Commun 324:25-30 (2004); Ylianttila et al., J Mol Biol 358:1286-1295 (2006)). 3-Hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenases that accept longer acyl-CoA substrates (eg. EC 1.1.1.35) are typically involved in beta-oxidation. An example is HSD17B10 in Bos taurus (WAKIL et al., J Biol. Chem. 207:631-638 (1954)). phbB from Cupriavidus necatar codes for a 3-hydroxyvaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity.

Other exemplary enzymes that can carry this reaction are 2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenases. Such an enzyme, characterized from the halophilic archaeon Haloferax mediterranei catalyses a reversible stereospecific reduction of 2-ketocarboxylic acids into the corresponding D-2-hydroxycarboxylic acids. The enzyme is strictly NAD-dependent and prefers substrates with a main chain of 3-4 carbons (pyruvate and 2-oxobutanoate). Activity with 4-methyl-2-oxopentanoate is 10-fold lower. Two such enzymes from E. coli are encoded by malate dehydrogenase (mdh) and lactate dehydrogenase (ldhA). In addition, lactate dehydrogenase from Ralstonia eutropha has been shown to demonstrate high activities on 2-ketoacids of various chain lengths includings lactate, 2-oxobutyrate, 2-oxopentanoate and 2-oxoglutarate (Steinbuchel et al., Eur. J Biochem. 130:329-334 (1983)). Conversion of alpha-ketoadipate into alpha-hydroxyadipate can be catalyzed by 2-ketoadipate reductase, an enzyme reported to be found in rat and in human placenta (Suda et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 176:610-620 (1976); Suda et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 77:586-591 (1977)). An additional oxidoreductase is the mitochondrial 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (bdh) from the human heart which has been cloned and characterized (Marks et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267:15459-15463 (1992)). Alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes of C. beijerinckii (Ismaiel et al., J. Bacteriol. 175:5097-5105 (1993)) and T. brockii (Lamed et al., Biochem. J. 195:183-190 (1981); Peretz et al., Biochemistry. 28:6549-6555 (1989)) convert acetone to isopropanol. Methyl ethyl ketone reductase catalyzes the reduction of MEK to 2-butanol. Exemplary MEK reductase enzymes can be found in Rhodococcus ruber (Kosjek et al., Biotechnol Bioeng. 86:55-62 (2004)) and Pyrococcus furiosus (van der et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 268:3062-3068 (2001)).

CoA hydrolysis of 2,4-pentadienoyl CoA can be catalyzed by CoA hydrolases or thioesterases in the EC class 3.1.2. Several CoA hydrolases with broad substrate ranges are suitable enzymes for hydrolyzing these intermediates. For example, the enzyme encoded by acot12 from Rattus norvegicus brain (Robinson et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 71:959-965 (1976)) can react with butyryl-CoA, hexanoyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA. The human dicarboxylic acid thioesterase, encoded by acot8, exhibits activity on glutaryl-CoA, adipyl-CoA, suberyl-CoA, sebacyl-CoA, and dodecanedioyl-CoA (Westin et al., J. Biol. Chem. 280:38125-38132 (2005)). The closest E. coli hom*olog to this enzyme, tesB, can also hydrolyze a range of CoA thiolesters (Naggert et al., J Biol Chem 266:11044-11050 (1991)). A similar enzyme has also been characterized in the rat liver (Deana R., Biochem Int 26:767-773 (1992)). Additional enzymes with hydrolase activity in E. coli include ybgC, paaI, yciA, and ybdB (Kuznetsova, et al., FEMS Microbiol Rev, 2005, 29(2):263-279; Song et al., J Biol Chem, 2006, 281(16): 11028-38). Though its sequence has not been reported, the enzyme from the mitochondrion of the pea leaf has a broad substrate specificity, with demonstrated activity on acetyl-CoA, propionyl-CoA, butyryl-CoA, palmitoyl-CoA, oleoyl-CoA, succinyl-CoA, and crotonyl-CoA (Zeiher et al., Plant. Physiol. 94:20-27 (1990)) The acetyl-CoA hydrolase, ACH1, from S. cerevisiae represents another candidate hydrolase (Buu et al., J. Biol. Chem. 278:17203-17209 (2003)).

Yet another candidate hydrolase is the glutaconate CoA-transferase from Acidaminococcus fermentans. This enzyme was transformed by site-directed mutagenesis into an acyl-CoA hydrolase with activity on glutaryl-CoA, acetyl-CoA and 3-butenoyl-CoA (Mack et al., FEBS. Lett. 405:209-212 (1997)). This suggests that the enzymes encoding succinyl-CoA:3-ketoacid-CoA transferases and acetoacetyl-CoA:acetyl-CoA transferases may also serve as candidates for this reaction step but would require certain mutations to change their function.

Additional hydrolase enzymes include 3-hydroxyisobutyryl-CoA hydrolase which has been described to efficiently catalyze the conversion of 3-hydroxyisobutyryl-CoA to 3-hydroxyisobutyrate during valine degradation (Shimomura et al., J Biol Chem. 269:14248-14253 (1994)). Genes encoding this enzyme include hibch of Rattus norvegicus (Shimomura et al., Methods Enzymol. 324:229-240 (2000)) and hom*o sapiens (Shimomura et al., supra). Similar gene candidates can also be identified by sequence hom*ology, including hibch of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and BC 2292 of Bacillus cereus.

Methylmalonyl-CoA is converted to methylmalonate by methylmalonyl-CoA hydrolase (EC 3.1.2.7). This enzyme, isolated from Rattus norvegicus liver, is also active on malonyl-CoA and propionyl-CoA as alternative substrates (Kovachy et al., J. Biol. Chem., 258: 11415-11421 (1983)).

Several transformations require a CoA transferase to activate carboxylic acids to their corresponding acyl-CoA derivatives. CoA transferase enzymes have been described in the open literature and represent suitable candidates for these steps. These are described below.

The gene products of cat1, cat2, and cat3 of Clostridium kluyveri have been shown to exhibit succinyl-CoA, 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA, and butyryl-CoA transferase activity, respectively (Seedorf et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U.S.A 105:2128-2133 (2008); Sohling et al., J Bacteriol. 178:871-880 (1996)). Similar CoA transferase activities are also present in Trichom*onas vagin*lis, Trypanosoma brucei, Clostridium aminobutyricum and Porphyromonas gingivalis (Riviere et al., J. Biol. Chem. 279:45337-45346 (2004); van Grinsven et al., J. Biol. Chem. 283:1411-1418 (2008)).

A fatty acyl-CoA transferase that utilizes acetyl-CoA as the CoA donor is acetoacetyl-CoA transferase, encoded by the E. coli atoA (alpha subunit) and atoD (beta subunit) genes (Korolev et al., Acta Crystallogr. D. Biol. Crystallogr. 58:2116-2121 (2002); Vanderwinkel et al., 33:902-908 (1968)). This enzyme has a broad substrate range on substrates of chain length C3-C6 (Sramek et al., Arch Biochem Biophys 171:14-26 (1975)) and has been shown to transfer the CoA moiety to acetate from a variety of branched and linear 3-oxo and acyl-CoA substrates, including isobutyrate (Matthies et al., Appl Environ. Microbiol 58:1435-1439 (1992)), valerate (Vanderwinkel et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 33:902-908 (1968)) and butanoate (Vanderwinkel et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 33:902-908 (1968)). This enzyme is induced at the transcriptional level by acetoacetate, so modification of regulatory control may be necessary for engineering this enzyme into a pathway (Pauli et al., Eur. J Biochem. 29:553-562 (1972)). Similar enzymes exist in Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13032 (Duncan et al., Appl Environ Microbiol, 68:5186-5190 (2002)), Clostridium acetobutylicum (Cary et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 56:1576-1583 (1990); Wiesenbom et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 55:323-329 (1989)), and Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum (Kosaka et al., Biosci. Biotechnol Biochem. 71:58-68 (2007)).

The dehydration of 2-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA can be catalyzed by a special class of oxygen-sensitive enzymes that dehydrate 2-hydroxyacyl-CoA derivatives by a radical-mechanism (Buckel and Golding, Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 60:27-49 (2006); Buckel et al., Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 8:462-467 (2004); Buckel et al., Biol. Chem. 386:951-959 (2005); Kim et al., FEBS J. 272:550-561 (2005); Kim et al., FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 28:455-468 (2004); Zhang et al., Microbiology 145 (Pt 9):2323-2334 (1999)). One example of such an enzyme is the lactyl-CoA dehydratase from Clostridium propionicum, which catalyzes the dehydration of lactoyl-CoA to form acryloyl-CoA (Kuchta and Abeles, J. Biol. Chem. 260:13181-13189 (1985); Hofmeister and Buckel, Eur. J. Biochem. 206:547-552 (1992)). An additional example is 2-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA dehydratase encoded by hgdABC from Acidaminococcus fermentans (Mueller and Buckel, Eur. J Biochem. 230:698-704 (1995); Schweiger et al., Eur. J Biochem. 169:441-448 (1987)). Purification of the dehydratase from A. fermentans yielded two components, A and D. Component A (HgdC) acts as an activator or initiator of dehydration. Component D is the actual dehydratase and is encoded by HgdAB. Variations of this enzyme have been found in Clostridum symbiosum and Fusobacterium nucleatum. Component A, the activator, from A. fermentans is active with the actual dehydratse (component D) from C. symbiosum and is reported to have a specific activity of 60 per second, as compared to 10 per second with the component D from A. fermentans. Yet another example is the 2-hydroxyisocaproyl-CoA dehydratase from Clostridium difficile catalyzed by hadBC and activated by hadI (Darley et al., FEBS J. 272:550-61 (2005)). The sequence of the complete C. propionicium lactoyl-CoA dehydratase is not yet listed in publicly available databases. However, the sequence of the beta-subunit corresponds to the GenBank accession number AJ276553 (Selmer et al, Eur J Biochem, 269:372-80 (2002)). The dehydratase from Clostridium sporogens that dehydrates phenyllactyl-CoA to cinnamoyl-CoA is also a potential candidate for this step. This enzyme is composed of three subunits, one of which is a CoA transferase. The first step comprises of a CoA transfer from cinnamoyl-CoA to phenyllactate leading to the formation of phenyllactyl-CoA and cinnamate. The product cinnamate is released. The dehydratase then converts phenyllactyl-CoA into cinnamoyl-CoA. FldA is the CoA transferase and FldBC are related to the alpha and beta subunits of the dehydratase, component D, from A. fermentans.

Another dehydratase that can potentially conduct such a biotransformation is the enoyl-CoA hydratase (4.2.1.17) of Pseudomonas putida, encoded by ech that catalyzes the conversion of 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA (Roberts et al., Arch. Microbiol 117:99-108 (1978)). This transformation is also catalyzed by the crt gene product of Clostridium acetobutylicum, the crt1 gene product of C. kluyveri, and other clostridial organisms Atsumi et al., Metab Eng 10:305-311 (2008); Boynton et al., J Bacteriol. 178:3015-3024 (1996); Hillmer et al., FEBS Lett. 21:351-354 (1972)). Additional enoyl-CoA hydratase candidates are phaA and phaB, of P. putida, and paaA and paaB from P. fluorescens (Olivera et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U.S.A 95:6419-6424 (1998)). The gene product of pimF in Rhodopseudomonas palustris is predicted to encode an enoyl-CoA hydratase that participates in pimeloyl-CoA degradation (Harrison et al., Microbiology 151:727-736 (2005)). Lastly, a number of Escherichia coli genes have been shown to demonstrate enoyl-CoA hydratase functionality including maoC (Park et al., J Bacteriol. 185:5391-5397 (2003)), paaF (Ismail et al., Eur. J Biochem. 270:3047-3054 (2003); Park et al., Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol 113-116:335-346 (2004); Park et al., Biotechnol Bioeng 86:681-686 (2004)) and paaG (Ismail et al., Eur. J Biochem. 270:3047-3054 (2003); Park and Lee, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol 113-116:335-346 (2004); Park and Yup, Biotechnol Bioeng 86:681-686 (2004)).

Alternatively, the E. coli gene products of fadA and fadB encode a multienzyme complex involved in fatty acid oxidation that exhibits enoyl-CoA hydratase activity (Yang et al., Biochemistry 30:6788-6795 (1991); Yang, J Bacteriol. 173:7405-7406 (1991); Nakahigashi et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 18:4937 (1990)). Knocking out a negative regulator encoded by fadR can be utilized to activate the fadB gene product (Sato et al., J Biosci. Bioeng 103:38-44 (2007)). The fadI and fadJ genes encode similar functions and are naturally expressed under anaerobic conditions (Campbell et al., Mol. Microbiol 47:793-805 (2003)).

Pathways to butadiene or 2,4-pentadienoate production as depicted in FIG. 2 starts with combining acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA via a thiolase (Step B). Acetyl-CoA can be carboxylated to form malonyl-CoA via an acetyl-CoA carboxylase (Step A). The product of the thiolase transformation in Step B is 3-oxoglutaryl-CoA. This can be reduced to form 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA(Step C). The latter can then be reduced to form 3-hydroxy 5-oxopentanoate and then 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate via an aldehyde forming 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase and 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate reductase respectively (Steps D and E). Alternatively, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA can be reduced by an alcohol-forming 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase to form 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate (Step F). Steps G and H in the pathway are two dehydration steps that dehydrate 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate to 5-hydroxy pent-2-enoate and to pent-2,4-dienoate respectively. This is eventually decarboxylated to form butadiene (Step I). 3-Hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate can also be formed from 3-oxoglutaryl-CoA via phosphate-3-hydroxyglutaryl transferase and 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate synthase as shown in Steps R and S.

Alternatively, 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate can be activated to form 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA (Step J or K), which is then dehydrated to form 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA (Step L). Further dehydration of the latter leads to the formation of penta-2,4-dienoyl-CoA (Step O). This metabolite is then hydrolyzed to form 2,4-pentadienoate (Step P or Q). A CoA transferase can also be used for this effect. 2,4-pentadienoate is then decarboxylated to form butadiene (Step I). The intermediate 5-hydroxypent-2-enoate can also be converted to form 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA either by a CoA ligase or a CoA transferase (Step M or N). This CoA intermediate is then dehydrated to form 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA as shown in Step O.

These pathways afford a maximum theoretical yield of 1 mol butadiene/mol glucose with a net excess of one mole NAD(P)H per mole butadiene formed. These pathway can also make up to one mole of ATP per mole of butadiene formed. Some combinations of these pathways will proceed through Steps A through I. Certain combinations of these pathways will be ATP neutral. For example, when a CoA ligase is used to activate one of the acid intermediates in the pathway and then CoA hydrolysis is used to form 2,4-pentadienoate, ATP production is neutral. The ATP-generating pathways also therefore provide an opportunity to produce butadiene anaerobically with coproduction of hydrogen. As described for the pathways described in FIG. 1, this set of pathways also allows for accomplishing a yield increase in butadiene with the use of a phosphoketolase-dependent acetyl-CoA synthesis pathway (See Example VI below).

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (EC 6.4.1.2) catalyzes the ATP-dependent carboxylation of acetyl-CoA to malonyl-CoA. This enzyme is biotin dependent and is the first reaction of fatty acid biosynthesis initiation in several organisms. Exemplary enzymes are encoded by accABCD of E. coli (Davis et al, J Biol Chem 275:28593-8 (2000)), ACC1 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and hom*ologs (Sumper et al, Methods Enzym 71:34-7 (1981)). The mitochondrial acetyl-CoA carboxylase of S. cerevisiae is encoded by HFA1. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase holoenzyme formation requires attachment of biotin by a biotin:apoprotein ligase such as BPL1 of S. cerevisiae. These and additional ACC enzymes are listed in the table below.

Malonyl-CoA can also be produced from malonate, produced either intracellularly or from exogenously fed malonate. Organisms are known to convert malonate into malonyl-CoA either by a synthetase or via a CoA transferase. Additionally, the ability to uptake malonate can be conferred upon an organism by introducing a malonate transporter as described in Chen and Tan (Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 2013 September; 171(1):44-62). In this paper, a malonate transporter encoded by mae1 was cloned from Schizosaccharomyces pombe into Saccharomyces cerevesiae.

Malonyl-CoA synthetase converts malonate into malonyl-CoA while converting ATP into AMP. This enzyme was first discovered in bacteroids, Bradyrhizobium japonicum, of soyabean nodules (Kim and Chae, 1990). Free malonate is known to occur in legumes and its levels increase under symbiotic conditions. The enzyme has been purified from B. japonicum and from Rhizobium leguminosarium by trifolii (kim et al., 1993). In the latter, a mat operon is described that comprises of a malonate carrier (matC), a malonyl-CoA synthetase (matB), a malonyl-CoA decarboxylase (matA) and the regulator of the operon, matR.

Beta-ketothiolase enzymes catalyzing the formation of beta-ketovalerate from acetyl-CoA and propionyl-CoA are suitable candidates for catalyzing the condensation of acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA. Zoogloea ramigera possesses two ketothiolases that can form 3-ketovaleryl-CoA from propionyl-CoA and acetyl-CoA and R. eutropha has a beta-oxidation ketothiolase that is also capable of catalyzing this transformation (Gruys et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,745 (1999)). The sequences of these genes or their translated proteins have not been reported, but several candidates in R. eutropha, Z. ramigera, or other organisms can be identified based on sequence hom*ology to bktB from R. eutropha. These include:

Another suitable candidate is 3-oxoadipyl-CoA thiolase (EC 2.3.1.174), which converts beta-ketoadipyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA and acetyl-CoA, and is a key enzyme of the beta-ketoadipate pathway for aromatic compound degradation. The enzyme is widespread in soil bacteria and fungi including Pseudomonas putida (Harwood et al., J Bacteriol. 176:6479-6488 (1994)) and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (Doten et al., J Bacteriol. 169:3168-3174 (1987)). The gene products encoded by pcaF in Pseudomonas strain B13 (Kaschabek et al., J Bacteriol. 184:207-215 (2002)), phaD in Pseudomonas putida U (Olivera et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U.S.A 95:6419-6424 (1998)), paaE in Pseudomonas fluorescens ST (Di et al., Arch. Microbiol 188:117-125 (2007)), and paaJ from E. coli (Nogales et al., Microbiology 153:357-365 (2007)) also catalyze this transformation. Several beta-ketothiolases exhibit significant and selective activities in the oxoadipyl-CoA forming direction including bkt from Pseudomonas putida, pcaF and bkt from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, bkt from Burkholderia ambifaria AMMD, paaJ from E. coli, and phaD from P. putida.

3-Oxopimeloyl-CoA thiolase catalyzes the condensation of glutaryl-CoA and acetyl-CoA into 3-oxopimeloyl-CoA (EC 2.3.1.16). An enzyme catalyzing this transformation is encoded by genes bktB and bktC in Ralstonia eutropha (formerly known as Alcaligenes eutrophus) (Slater et al., J. Bacteriol. 180:1979-1987 (1998); Haywood et al., FEMS Microbiology Letters 52:91-96 (1988)). The sequence of the BktB protein is known. The pim operon of Rhodopseudomonas palustris also encodes a beta-ketothiolase, encoded by pimB, predicted to catalyze this transformation in the degradative direction during benzoyl-CoA degradation (Harrison et al., Microbiology 151:727-736 (2005)). A beta-ketothiolase enzyme in S. aciditrophicus was identified by sequence hom*ology to bktB (43% identity, evalue=1e-93).

Additional enzymes include beta-ketothiolases that are known to convert two molecules of acetyl-CoA into acetoacetyl-CoA (EC 2.1.3.9). Exemplary acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase enzymes include the gene products of atoB from E. coli (Martin et al., Nat. Biotechnol 21:796-802 (2003)), thlA and thlB from C. acetobutylicum (Hanai et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 73:7814-7818 (2007); Winzer et al., J Mol. Microbiol Biotechnol 2:531-541 (2000)), and ERG10 from S. cerevisiae (Hiser et al., J. Biol. Chem. 269:31383-31389 (1994)).

Exemplary genes and gene products for catalyzing the 3-oxoglutaryl-CoA reductase steps that converted 3-oxoglutaryl-CoA to 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA are described above in Example I, step I.

Acyl-CoA dehydrogenases that reduce an acyl-CoA to its corresponding aldehyde include fatty acyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.2.1.42, 1.2.1.50), succinyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.2.1.76), acetyl-CoA reductase, butyryl-CoA reductase and propionyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.2.1.3). Aldehyde forming acyl-CoA reductase enzymes with demonstrated activity on acyl-CoA, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA and 3-oxoacyl-CoA substrates are known in the literature. Several acyl-CoA reductase enzymes are active on 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA substrates. For example, some butyryl-CoA reductases from Clostridial organisms, are active on 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA and propionyl-CoA reductase of L. reuteri is active on 3-hydroxypropionyl-CoA. An enzyme for converting 3-oxoacyl-CoA substrates to their corresponding aldehydes is malonyl-CoA reductase. Enzymes in this class can be refined using evolution or enzyme engineering methods known in the art to have activity on enoyl-CoA substrates.

Exemplary fatty acyl-CoA reductases enzymes are encoded by acr1 of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (Reiser, Journal of Bacteriology 179:2969-2975 (1997)) and Acinetobacter sp. M-1 (Ishige et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:1192-1195 (2002)). Two gene products from Mycobacterium tuberculosis accept longer chain fatty acyl-CoA substrates of length C16-C18 (Harminder Singh, U. Central Florida (2007)). Yet another fatty acyl-CoA reductase is LuxC of Photobacterium phosphoreum (Lee et al, Biochim Biohys Acta 1388:215-22 (1997)). Enzymes with succinyl-CoA reductase activity are encoded by sucD of Clostridium kluyveri (Sohling, J. Bacteriol. 178:871-880 (1996)) and sucD of P. gingivalis (Takahashi, J. Bacteriol 182:4704-4710 (2000)). Additional succinyl-CoA reductase enzymes participate in the 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle of thermophilic archaea including Metallosphaera sedula (Berg et al., Science 318:1782-1786 (2007)) and Thermoproteus neutrophilus (Ramos-Vera et al., J Bacteriol, 191:4286-4297 (2009)). The M. sedula enzyme, encoded by Msed_0709, is strictly NADPH-dependent and also has malonyl-CoA reductase activity. The T. neutrophilus enzyme is active with both NADPH and NADH. The enzyme acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in Pseudomonas sp, encoded by bphG, is yet another as it has been demonstrated to oxidize and acylate acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, butyraldehyde, isobutyraldehyde and formaldehyde (Powlowski, J. Bacteriol. 175:377-385 (1993)). In addition to reducing acetyl-CoA to ethanol, the enzyme encoded by adhE in Leuconostoc mesenteroides has been shown to oxidize the branched chain compound isobutyraldehyde to isobutyryl-CoA (Kazahaya, J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. 18:43-55 (1972); and Koo et al., Biotechnol Lett. 27:505-510 (2005)). Butyraldehyde dehydrogenase catalyzes a similar reaction, conversion of butyryl-CoA to butyraldehyde, in solventogenic organisms such as Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum (Kosaka et al., Biosci Biotechnol Biochem., 71:58-68 (2007)). Exemplary propionyl-CoA reductase enzymes include pduP of Salmonella typhimurium LT2 (Leal, Arch. Microbiol. 180:353-361 (2003)) and eutE from E. coli (Skraly, WO Patent No. 2004/024876). The propionyl-CoA reductase of Salmonella typhimurium LT2, which naturally converts propionyl-CoA to propionaldehyde, also catalyzes the reduction of 5-hydroxyvaleryl-CoA to 5-hydroxypentanal (WO 2010/068953A2). The propionaldehyde dehydrogenase of Lactobacillus reuteri, PduP, has a broad substrate range that includes butyraldehyde, valeraldehyde and 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (Luo et al, Appl Microbiol Biotech, 89: 697-703 (2011). Additionally, some acyl-ACP reductase enzymes such as the orf1594 gene product of Synechococcus elongatus PCC7942 also exhibit aldehyde-forming acyl-CoA reductase activity (Schirmer et al, Science, 329: 559-62 (2010)).

Additionally, some acyl-ACP reductase enzymes such as the orf1594 gene product of Synechococcus elongatus PCC7942 also exhibit aldehyde-forming acyl-CoA reductase activity (Schirmer et al, Science, 329: 559-62 (2010)). The S. elongates PCC7942 acyl-ACP reductase is coexpressed with an aldehyde decarbonylase in an operon that appears to be conserved in a majority of cyanobacterial organisms. This enzyme, expressed in E. coli together with the aldehyde decarbonylase, conferred the ability to produce alkanes. The P. marinus AAR was also cloned into E. coli and, together with a decarbonylase, demonstrated production of alkanes (see, e.g., US Application 2011/0207203).

An additional enzyme type that converts an acyl-CoA to its corresponding aldehyde is malonyl-CoA reductase which transforms malonyl-CoA to malonic semialdehyde. Malonyl-CoA reductase is a key enzyme in autotrophic carbon fixation via the 3-hydroxypropionate cycle in thermoacidophilic archaeal bacteria (Berg, Science 318:1782-1786 (2007); and Thauer, Science 318:1732-1733 (2007)). The enzyme utilizes NADPH as a cofactor and has been characterized in Metallosphaera and Sulfolobus sp. (Alber et al., J. Bacteriol. 188:8551-8559 (2006); and Hugler, J. Bacteriol. 184:2404-2410 (2002)). The enzyme is encoded by Msed_0709 in Metallosphaera sedula (Alber et al., J. Bacteriol. 188:8551-8559 (2006); and Berg, Science 318:1782-1786 (2007)). A gene encoding a malonyl-CoA reductase from Sulfolobus tokodaii was cloned and heterologously expressed in E. coli (Alber et al., J. Bacteriol 188:8551-8559 (2006). This enzyme has also been shown to catalyze the conversion of methylmalonyl-CoA to its corresponding aldehyde (WO2007141208 (2007)). Although the aldehyde dehydrogenase functionality of these enzymes is similar to the bifunctional dehydrogenase from Chloroflexus aurantiacus, there is little sequence similarity. Both malonyl-CoA reductase enzyme candidates have high sequence similarity to aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase, an enzyme catalyzing the reduction and concurrent dephosphorylation of aspartyl-4-phosphate to aspartate semialdehyde. Additional gene candidates can be found by sequence hom*ology to proteins in other organisms including Sulfolobus solfataricus and Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and have been listed below. Yet another candidate for CoA-acylating aldehyde dehydrogenase is the aid gene from Clostridium beijerinckii (Toth, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:4973-4980 (1999). This enzyme has been reported to reduce acetyl-CoA and butyryl-CoA to their corresponding aldehydes. This gene is very similar to eutE that encodes acetaldehyde dehydrogenase of Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli (Toth, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:4973-4980 (1999).

The reduction of 3-hydroxy 5-oxopentenoate to 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate can be catalyzed by an aldehyde reductase.

Exemplary genes encoding enzymes that catalyze the conversion of an aldehyde to alcohol (e.g., alcohol dehydrogenase or equivalently aldehyde reductase) include alrA encoding a medium-chain alcohol dehydrogenase for C2-C14 (Tani et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66:5231-5235 (2000)), ADH2 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Atsumi et al., Nature 451:86-89 (2008)), yqhD from E. coli which has preference for molecules longer than C(3) (Sulzenbacher et al., J Mol Biol 342:489-502 (2004)), and bdh I and bdh II from C. acetobutylicum which converts butyryaldehyde into butanol (Walter et al., 174:7149-7158 (1992)). The gene product of yqhD catalyzes the reduction of acetaldehyde, malondialdehyde, propionaldehyde, butyraldehyde, and acrolein using NADPH as the cofactor (Perez et al., 283:7346-7353 (2008); Perez et al., J Biol. Chem. 283:7346-7353 (2008)). The adhA gene product from Zymomonas mobilisE has been demonstrated to have activity on a number of aldehydes including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, butyraldehyde, and acrolein (Kinosh*ta et al., Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 22:249-254 (1985)). Additional aldehyde reductase candidates are encoded by bdh in C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum and Cbei_1722, Cbei_2181 and Cbei_2421 in C. beijerinckii.

Enzymes exhibiting 4-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase activity (EC 1.1.1.61) also fall into this category. Such enzymes have been characterized in Ralstonia eutropha (Bravo et al., 49:379-387 (2004)), Clostridium kluyveri (Wolff et al., Protein Expr. Purif 6:206-212 (1995)) and Arabidopsis thaliana (Breitkreuz et al., 278:41552-41556 (2003)). The A. thaliana enzyme was cloned and characterized in yeast (Breitkreuz et al., J. Biol. Chem. 278:41552-41556 (2003)). Yet another gene is the alcohol dehydrogenase adhI from Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius (Jeon et al., J Biotechnol 135:127-133 (2008)).

Another exemplary enzyme is 3-hydroxyisobutyrate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.31) which catalyzes the reversible oxidation of 3-hydroxyisobutyrate to methylmalonate semialdehyde. This enzyme participates in valine, leucine and isoleucine degradation and has been identified in bacteria, eukaryotes, and mammals. The enzyme encoded by P84067 from Thermus thermophilus HB8 has been structurally characterized (Lokanath et al., 352:905-17 (2005)). The reversibility of the human 3-hydroxyisobutyrate dehydrogenase was demonstrated using isotopically-labeled substrate (Manning et al., 231:481-4 (1985)). Additional genes encoding this enzyme include 3hidh in hom*o sapiens (Hawes et al., 324:218-228 (2000)) and Oryctolagus cuniculus (Hawes et al., Methods Enzymol. 324:218-228 (2000); Chowdhury et al., Biosci. Biotechnol Biochem. 60:2043-2047 (1996)), mmsB in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida, and dhat in Pseudomonas putida (Aberhart et al., J Chem. Soc. [Perkin 1] 6:1404-1406 (1979); Chowdhury et al., Biosci. Biotechnol Biochem. 60:2043-2047 (1996); Chowdhury et al., Biosci. Biotechnol Biochem. 67:438-441 (2003)). Several 3-hydroxyisobutyrate dehydrogenase enzymes have been characterized in the reductive direction, including mmsB from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Gokarn et al., (2008)) and mmsB from Pseudomonas putida.

3-Hydroxypropionate dehydrogenase, also known as malonate semialdehyde reductase, catalyzes the reversible conversion of malonic semialdehyde to 3-HP. An NADH-dependent 3-hydroxypropionate dehydrogenase is thought to participate in beta-alanine biosynthesis pathways from propionate in bacteria and plants (Rathinasabapathi B., 159:671-674 (2002); Stadtman, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 77:5765-5766 (1955)). An NADPH-dependent malonate semialdehyde reductase catalyzes the reverse reaction in autotrophic CO₂-fixing bacteria. The enzyme activity has been detected in Metallosphaera sedula. (Alber et al., 188:8551-8559 (2006)). Several 3-hydroxyisobutyrate dehydrogenase enzymes exhibit 3-hydroxypropionate dehydrogenase activity. Three genes exhibiting this activity are mmsB from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (Gokarn et al., (2008)), mmsB from Pseudomonas putida KT2440 and mmsB from Pseudomonas putida E23 (Chowdhury et al., 60:2043-2047 (1996)).

hom*oserine dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.13) catalyzes the NAD(P)H-dependent reduction of aspartate semialdehyde to hom*oserine. In many organisms, including E. coli, hom*oserine dehydrogenase is a bifunctional enzyme that also catalyzes the ATP-dependent conversion of aspartate to aspartyl-4-phosphate (Starnes et al., 11:677-687 (1972)) 1973)). The functional domains are catalytically independent and connected by a linker region (Sibilli et al., 256:10228-10230 (1981)) and both domains are subject to allosteric inhibition by threonine. The hom*oserine dehydrogenase domain of the E. coli enzyme, encoded by thrA, was separated from the aspartate kinase domain, characterized, and found to exhibit high catalytic activity and reduced inhibition by threonine (James et al., 41:3720-3725 (2002)). This can be applied to other bifunctional threonine kinases including, for example, hom1 of Lactobacillus plantarum (Cahyanto et al., 152:105-112 (2006)) and Arabidopsis thaliana. The monofunctional hom*oserine dehydrogenases encoded by hom6 in S. cerevisiae (Jacques et al., 1544:28-41 (2001)) and hom2 in Lactobacillus plantarum (Cahyanto et al., Microbiology 152:105-112 (2006)) have been functionally expressed and characterized in E. coli.

Bifunctional oxidoreductases convert an acyl-CoA to its corresponding alcohol. Enzymes with this activity are required to convert 3-hydroxygloutaryl-CoA to 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate.

Exemplary bifunctional oxidoreductases that convert an acyl-CoA to alcohol include those that transform substrates such as acetyl-CoA to ethanol (e.g., adhE from E. coli (Kessler et al., FEBS. Lett. 281:59-63 (1991))) and butyryl-CoA to butanol (e.g. adhE2 from C. acetobutylicum (Fontaine et al., J. Bacteriol. 184:821-830 (2002))). The C. acetobutylicum enzymes encoded by bdh I and bdh II (Walter, et al., J. Bacteriol. 174:7149-7158 (1992)), reduce acetyl-CoA and butyryl-CoA to ethanol and butanol, respectively. In addition to reducing acetyl-CoA to ethanol, the enzyme encoded by adhE in Leuconostoc mesenteroides has been shown to oxide the branched chain compound isobutyraldehyde to isobutyryl-CoA (Kazahaya et al., J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. 18:43-55 (1972); Koo et al., Biotechnol Lett, 27:505-510 (2005)). Another exemplary enzyme can convert malonyl-CoA to 3-HP. An NADPH-dependent enzyme with this activity has characterized in Chloroflexus aurantiacus where it participates in the 3-hydroxypropionate cycle (Hugler et al., J. Bacteriol, 184:2404-2410 (2002); Strauss et al., Eur J Biochem, 215:633-643 (1993)). This enzyme, with a mass of 300 kDa, is highly substrate-specific and shows little sequence similarity to other known oxidoreductases (Hugler et al., supra). No enzymes in other organisms have been shown to catalyze this specific reaction; however there is bioinformatic evidence that other organisms may have similar pathways (Klatt et al., Env Microbiol, 9:2067-2078 (2007)). Enzyme candidates in other organisms including Roseiflexus castenholzii, Erythrobacter sp. NAP1 and marine gamma proteobacterium HTCC2080 can be inferred by sequence similarity.

Longer chain acyl-CoA molecules can be reduced to their corresponding alcohols by enzymes such as the jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) FAR which encodes an alcohol-forming fatty acyl-CoA reductase. Its overexpression in E. coli resulted in FAR activity and the accumulation of fatty alcohol (Metz et al., Plant Physiol, 122:635-644 (2000)). Bifunctional prokaryotic FAR enzymes are found in Marinobacter aquaeolei VT8 (Hofvander et al, FEBS Lett 3538-43 (2011)), Marinobacter algicola and Oceanobacter strain RED65 (US Pat Appl 20110000125).

Another candidate for catalyzing these steps is 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (or HMG-CoA reductase). This enzyme naturally reduces the CoA group in 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA to an alcohol forming mevalonate. The hmgA gene of Sulfolobus solfataricus, encoding 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, has been cloned, sequenced, and expressed in E. coli (Bochar et al., J. Bacteriol. 179:3632-3638 (1997)). S. cerevisiae also has two HMG-CoA reductases in it (Basson et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 83:5563-5567 (1986)). The gene has also been isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana and has been shown to complement the HMG-COA reductase activity in S. cerevisiae (Learned et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 86:2779-2783 (1989)).

4-Hydroxybutyryl-CoA reductase (alcohol forming) enzymes are bifunctional oxidoreductases that convert an 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA to 1,4-butanediol. Enzymes with this activity include adhE from E. coli, adhE2 from C. acetobutylicum (Fontaine et al., J. Bacteriol. 184:821-830 (2002)) and the C. acetobutylicum enzymes encoded by bdh I and bdh II (Walter, et al., J. Bacteriol. 174:7149-7158 (1992)). In addition to reducing acetyl-CoA to ethanol, the enzyme encoded by adhE in Leuconostoc mesenteroides has been shown to oxide the branched chain compound isobutyraldehyde to isobutyryl-CoA (Kazahaya et al., J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. 18:43-55 (1972); Koo et al., Biotechnol Lett, 27:505-510 (2005)).

Exemplary genes and gene products for catalyzing the CoA ligase steps that convert 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate to 3,5-dihdyroxypentannoyl-CoA and 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA are described above in Example I, step G and step J.

Exemplary genes and gene products for catalyzing the CoA transferase steps that convert the substrates and products of Steps K, N, and Q in FIG. 2 are described above in Example I, Steps H, K and N.

Exemplary genes and gene products for catalyzing the CoA hydrolase steps that convert 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA into 2,4-pentadienoate are described above in Example I, step M.

Exemplary genes and gene products for catalyzing the decarboxylase steps that convert penta-2,4-dienoate to butadiene are described above in Example I, step F.

Exemplary genes and gene products for catalyzing the dehydratase steps that convert 3,5-dihydroxypentanoyl-CoA into 5-hydroxyoent-2-enoyl-CoA belong to the category of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydratases, which are described in Example I, step L.

Acyl CoA dehydratases can catalyze the dehydration of 5-hydroxypent-2-enoyl-CoA into 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA. Specifically, an enzyme that can catalyze this transformation has been described in Buckel, Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2001 October; 57(3):263-7. 5-hydroxyvaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase/dehydratase has been described from Clostridium viride, previously called Clostridium aminovalericum. This enzyme can first oxidize 5-hydroxyvaleryl-CoA to 5-hydroxypentenoyl-CoA. This is subsequently dehydrated to form 2,4-pentadienoyl-CoA. The crystal structure of the dehydratase has been solved to 2.2 A⁰ resolution. Eikmanns et al., Proteins. 1994 July; 19(3):269-71, Eikmanns and Buckel, Eur J Biochem, 1991 May 8; 197(3):661-8.

Other gene candidates in the enzyme class 4.2.1 can catalyze this transformation. Several candidates are listed in Example I, step L.

Exemplary dehydratase that can catalyze dehydration of 3,5-dihydroxypentanoate to 5-hydroxy pent-2-enoate and of 5-hydroxy pent-2-enoate to pent-2,4-dienoate are described in Example I, step E.

The reduction of 3-hydroxyglutarylphosphate to 3-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoate can be catalyzed by an oxidoreductase or phosphate reductase in the EC class 1.2.1. Exemplary phosphonate reductase enzymes include glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.12), aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.11) acetylglutamylphosphate reductase (EC 1.2.1.38) and glutamate-5-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.-). Aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase (ASD, EC 1.2.1.11) catalyzes the NADPH-dependent reduction of 4-aspartyl phosphate to aspartate-4-semialdehyde. ASD participates in amino acid biosynthesis and recently has been studied as an antimicrobial target (Hadfield et al., Biochemistry 40:14475-14483 (2001)). The E. coli ASD structure has been solved (Hadfield et al., J Mol. Biol. 289:991-1002 (1999)) and the enzyme has been shown to accept the alternate substrate beta-3-methylaspartyl phosphate (Shames et al., J Biol. Chem. 259:15331-15339 (1984)). The Haemophilus influenzae enzyme has been the subject of enzyme engineering studies to alter substrate binding affinities at the active site (Blanco et al., Acta Crystallogr. D. Biol. Crystallogr. 60:1388-1395 (2004); Blanco et al., Acta Crystallogr. D. Biol. Crystallogr. 60:1808-1815 (2004)). Other ASD candidates are found in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Shafiani et al., J Appl Microbiol 98:832-838 (2005)), Methanococcus jannaschii (Faehnle et al., J Mol. Biol. 353:1055-1068 (2005)), and the infectious microorganisms Vibrio cholera and Heliobacter pylori (Moore et al., Protein Expr. Purif 25:189-194 (2002)). A related enzyme candidate is acetylglutamylphosphate reductase (EC 1.2.1.38), an enzyme that naturally reduces acetylglutamylphosphate to acetylglutamate-5-semialdehyde, found in S. cerevisiae (Pauwels et al., Eur. J Biochem. 270:1014-1024 (2003)), B. subtilis (O'Reilly et al., Microbiology 140 (Pt 5):1023-1025 (1994)), E. coli (Parsot et al., Gene. 68:275-283 (1988)), and other organisms. Additional phosphate reductase enzymes of E. coli include glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gapA (Branlant et al., Eur. J Biochem. 150:61-66 (1985))) and glutamate-5-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (proA (Smith et al., J. Bacteriol. 157:545-551 (1984))). Genes encoding glutamate-5-semialdehyde dehydrogenase enzymes from Salmonella typhimurium (Mahan et al., J. Bacteriol. 156:1249-1262 (1983)) and Campylobacter jejuni (Louie et al., Mol. Gen. Genet. 240:29-35 (1993)) were cloned and expressed in E. coli.

Exemplary phosphate-transferring acyltransferases that can convert 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA into 3-hydroxyglutaryl phosphate include phosphotransacetylase (EC 2.3.1.8) and phosphotransbutyrylase (EC 2.3.1.19). The pta gene from E. coli encodes a phosphotransacetylase that reversibly converts acetyl-CoA into acetyl-phosphate (Suzuki, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 191:559-569 (1969)). This enzyme can also utilize propionyl-CoA as a substrate, forming propionate in the process (Hesslinger et al., Mol. Microbiol 27:477-492 (1998)). Other phosphate acetyltransferases that exhibit activity on propionyl-CoA are found in Bacillus subtilis (Rado et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 321:114-125 (1973)), Clostridium kluyveri (Stadtman, Methods Enzymol 1:596-599 (1955)), and Thermotoga maritima (Bock et al., J Bacteriol. 181:1861-1867 (1999)). Similarly, the ptb gene from C. acetobutylicum encodes phosphotransbutyrylase, an enzyme that reversibly converts butyryl-CoA into butyryl-phosphate (Wiesenbom et al., Appl Environ. Microbiol 55:317-322 (1989); Walter et al., Gene 134:107-111 (1993)). Additional ptb genes are found in butyrate-producing bacterium L2-50 (Louis et al., J. Bacteriol. 186:2099-2106 (2004)) and Bacillus megaterium (Vazquez et al., Curr. Microbiol 42:345-349 (2001)).

This example describes enzymatic pathways for converting pyruvate to formaldehyde, and optionally in combination with producing acetyl-CoA and/or reproducing pyruvate.

The conversion of formate to formaldehyde can be carried out by a formate reductase (step E, FIG. 3). A suitable enzyme for these transformations is the aryl-aldehyde dehydrogenase, or equivalently a carboxylic acid reductase, from Nocardia iowensis. Carboxylic acid reductase catalyzes the magnesium, ATP and NADPH-dependent reduction of carboxylic acids to their corresponding aldehydes (Venkitasubramanian et al., J. Biol. Chem. 282:478-485 (2007)). This enzyme, encoded by car, was cloned and functionally expressed in E. coli (Venkitasubramanian et al., J. Biol. Chem. 282:478-485 (2007)). Expression of the npt gene product improved activity of the enzyme via post-transcriptional modification. The npt gene encodes a specific phosphopantetheine transferase (PPTase) that converts the inactive apo-enzyme to the active holo-enzyme. The natural substrate of this enzyme is vanillic acid, and the enzyme exhibits broad acceptance of aromatic and aliphatic substrates (Venkitasubramanian et al., in Biocatalysis in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industries, ed. R.N. Patel, Chapter 15, pp. 425-440, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, Fla. (2006)). Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

Additional car and npt genes can be identified based on sequence hom*ology.

An additional enzyme candidate found in Streptomyces griseus is encoded by the griC and griD genes. This enzyme is believed to convert 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzoic acid to 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde as deletion of either griC or griD led to accumulation of extracellular 3-acetylamino-4-hydroxybenzoic acid, a shunt product of 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzoic acid metabolism (Suzuki, et al., J. Antibiot. 60(6):380-387 (2007)). Co-expression of griC and griD with SGR_665, an enzyme similar in sequence to the Nocardia iowensis npt, can be beneficial. Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

An enzyme with similar characteristics, alpha-aminoadipate reductase (AAR, EC 1.2.1.31), participates in lysine biosynthesis pathways in some fungal species. This enzyme naturally reduces alpha-aminoadipate to alpha-aminoadipate semialdehyde. The carboxyl group is first activated through the ATP-dependent formation of an adenylate that is then reduced by NAD(P)H to yield the aldehyde and AMP. Like CAR, this enzyme utilizes magnesium and requires activation by a PPTase. Enzyme candidates for AAR and its corresponding PPTase are found in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Morris et al., Gene 98:141-145 (1991)), Candida albicans (Guo et al., Mol. Genet. Genomics 269:271-279 (2003)), and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Ford et al., Curr. Genet. 28:131-137 (1995)). The AAR from S. pombe exhibited significant activity when expressed in E. coli (Guo et al., Yeast 21:1279-1288 (2004)). The AAR from Penicillium chrysogenum accepts S-carboxymethyl-L-cysteine as an alternate substrate, but did not react with adipate, L-glutamate or diaminopimelate (Hijarrubia et al., J. Biol. Chem. 278:8250-8256 (2003)). Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

Tani et al (Agric Biol Chem, 1978, 42: 63-68; Agric Biol Chem, 1974, 38: 2057-2058) showed that purified enzymes from Escherichia coli strain B could reduce the sodium salts of different organic acids (e.g. formate, glycolate, acetate, etc.) to their respective aldehydes (e.g. formaldehyde, glycoaldehyde, acetaldehyde, etc.). Of three purified enzymes examined by Tani et al (1978), only the “A” isozyme was shown to reduce formate to formaldehyde. Collectively, this group of enzymes was originally termed glycoaldehyde dehydrogenase; however, their novel reductase activity led the authors to propose the name glycolate reductase as being more appropriate (Morita et al, Agric Biol Chem, 1979, 43: 185-186). Morita et al (Agric Biol Chem, 1979, 43: 185-186) subsequently showed that glycolate reductase activity is relatively widespread among microorganisms, being found for example in: Pseudomonas, Agrobacterium, Escherichia, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, and others. Without wishing to be bound by any particular theory, it is believed that some of these glycolate reductase enzymes are able to reduce formate to formaldehyde.

Any of these CAR or CAR-like enzymes can exhibit formate reductase activity or can be engineered to do so.

The acylation of formate to formyl-CoA is catalyzed by enzymes with formate transferase, synthetase, or ligase activity (Step F, FIG. 3). Formate transferase enzymes have been identified in several organisms including Escherichia coli (Toyota, et al., J Bacteriol. 2008 April; 190(7):2556-64), Oxalobacter formigenes (Toyota, et al., J Bacteriol. 2008 April; 190(7):2556-64; Baetz et al., J Bacteriol. 1990 July; 172(7):3537-40; Ricagno, et al., EMBO J. 2003 Jul. 1; 22(13):3210-9)), and Lactobacillus acidophilus (Azcarate-Peril, et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2006 72(3) 1891-1899). hom*ologs exist in several other organisms. Enzymes acting on the CoA-donor for formate transferase may also be expressed to ensure efficient regeneration of the CoA-donor. For example, if oxalyl-CoA is the CoA donor substrate for formate transferase, an additional transferase, synthetase, or ligase may be required to enable efficient regeneration of oxalyl-CoA from oxalate. Similarly, if succinyl-CoA or acetyl-CoA is the CoA donor substrate for formate transferase, an additional transferase, synthetase, or ligase may be required to enable efficient regeneration of succinyl-CoA from succinate or acetyl-CoA from acetate, respectively.

Suitable CoA-donor regeneration or formate transferase enzymes are encoded by the gene products of cat1, cat2, and cat3 of Clostridium kluyveri. These enzymes have been shown to exhibit succinyl-CoA, 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA, and butyryl-CoA acetyltransferase activity, respectively (Seedorf et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105:2128-2133 (2008); Sohling and Gottschalk, J Bacteriol 178:871-880 (1996)). Similar CoA transferase activities are also present in Trichom*onas vagin*lis (van Grinsven et al., J. Biol. Chem. 283:1411-1418 (2008)) and Trypanosoma brucei (Riviere et al., J. Biol. Chem. 279:45337-45346 (2004)). Yet another transferase capable of the desired conversions is butyryl-CoA:acetoacetate CoA-transferase. Exemplary enzymes can be found in Fusobacterium nucleatum (Barker et al., J. Bacteriol. 152(1):201-7 (1982)), Clostridium SB4 (Barker et al., J. Biol. Chem. 253(4):1219-25 (1978)), and Clostridium acetobutylicum (Wiesenbom et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 55(2):323-9 (1989)). Although specific gene sequences were not provided for butyryl-CoA:acetoacetate CoA-transferase in these references, the genes FN0272 and FN0273 have been annotated as a butyrate-acetoacetate CoA-transferase (Kapatral et al., J. Bact. 184(7) 2005-2018 (2002)). hom*ologs in Fusobacterium nucleatum such as FN1857 and FN1856 also likely have the desired acetoacetyl-CoA transferase activity. FN1857 and FN1856 are located adjacent to many other genes involved in lysine fermentation and are thus very likely to encode an acetoacetate:butyrate CoA transferase (Kreimeyer, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 282 (10) 7191-7197 (2007)). Additional candidates from Porphyrmonas gingivalis and Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis can be identified in a similar fashion (Kreimeyer, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 282 (10) 7191-7197 (2007)). Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

Additional transferase enzymes of interest include the gene products of atoAD from E. coli (Hanai et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 73:7814-7818 (2007)), ctfAB from C. acetobutylicum (Jojima et al., Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 77:1219-1224 (2008)), and ctfAB from Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum (Kosaka et al., Biosci. Biotechnol Biochem. 71:58-68 (2007)). Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

Succinyl-CoA:3-ketoacid-CoA transferase naturally converts succinate to succinyl-CoA while converting a 3-ketoacyl-CoA to a 3-ketoacid. Exemplary succinyl-CoA:3:ketoacid-CoA transferases are present in Helicobacter pylori (Corthesy-Theulaz et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272:25659-25667 (1997)), Bacillus subtilis (Stols et al., Protein. Expr. Purif 53:396-403 (2007)), and hom*o sapiens (f*ckao et al., Genomics 68:144-151 (2000); Tanaka et al., Mol. Hum. Reprod. 8:16-23 (2002)). Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

Two additional enzymes that catalyze the activation of formate to formyl-CoA reaction are AMP-forming formyl-CoA synthetase and ADP-forming formyl-CoA synthetase. Exemplary enzymes, known to function on acetate, are found in E. coli (Brown et al., J. Gen. Microbiol. 102:327-336 (1977)), Ralstonia eutropha (Priefert and Steinbuchel, J. Bacteriol. 174:6590-6599 (1992)), Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus (Ingram-Smith and Smith, Archaea 2:95-107 (2007)), Salmonella enterica (Gulick et al., Biochemistry 42:2866-2873 (2003)) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Jogl and Tong, Biochemistry 43:1425-1431 (24). Such enzymes may also acylate formate naturally or can be engineered to do so.

ADP-forming acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACD, EC 6.2.1.13) is another candidate enzyme that couples the conversion of acyl-CoA esters to their corresponding acids with the concurrent synthesis of ATP. Several enzymes with broad substrate specificities have been described in the literature. ACD I from Archaeoglobus fulgidus, encoded by AF1211, was shown to operate on a variety of linear and branched-chain substrates including acetyl-CoA, propionyl-CoA, butyryl-CoA, acetate, propionate, butyrate, isobutyryate, isovalerate, succinate, fumarate, phenylacetate, indoleacetate (Musfeldt et al., J. Bacteriol. 184:636-644 (2002)). The enzyme from Haloarcula marismortui (annotated as a succinyl-CoA synthetase) accepts propionate, butyrate, and branched-chain acids (isovalerate and isobutyrate) as substrates, and was shown to operate in the forward and reverse directions (Brasen et al., Arch. Microbiol. 182:277-287 (2004)). The ACD encoded by PAE3250 from hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum showed the broadest substrate range of all characterized ACDs, reacting with acetyl-CoA, isobutyryl-CoA (preferred substrate) and phenylacetyl-CoA (Brasen et al., supra (2004)). The enzymes from A. fulgidus, H. marismortui and P. aerophilum have all been cloned, functionally expressed, and characterized in E. coli (Musfeldt et al., supra; Brasen et al., supra (2004)). Additional candidates include the succinyl-CoA synthetase encoded by sucCD in E. coli (Buck et al., Biochemistry 24:6245-6252 (1985)) and the acyl-CoA ligase from Pseudomonas putida (Fernandez-Valverde et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 59:1149-1154 (1993)). Such enzymes may also acylate formate naturally or can be engineered to do so. Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

An alternative method for adding the CoA moiety to formate is to apply a pair of enzymes such as a phosphate-transferring acyltransferase and a kinase. These activities enable the net formation of formyl-CoA with the simultaneous consumption of ATP. An exemplary phosphate-transferring acyltransferase is phosphotransacetylase, encoded by pta. The pta gene from E. coli encodes an enzyme that can convert acetyl-CoA into acetyl-phosphate, and vice versa (Suzuki, T. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 191:559-569 (1969)). This enzyme can also utilize propionyl-CoA instead of acetyl-CoA forming propionate in the process (Hesslinger et al. Mol. Microbiol 27:477-492 (1998)). hom*ologs exist in several other organisms including Salmonella enterica and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Such enzymes may also phosphorylate formate naturally or can be engineered to do so.

An exemplary acetate kinase is the E. coli acetate kinase, encoded by ackA (Skarstedt and Silverstein J. Biol. Chem. 251:6775-6783 (1976)). hom*ologs exist in several other organisms including Salmonella enterica and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. It is likely that such enzymes naturally possess formate kinase activity or can be engineered to have this activity. Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below:

The acylation of formate to formyl-CoA can also be carried out by a formate ligase. For example, the product of the LSC1 and LSC2 genes of S. cerevisiae and the sucC and sucD genes of E. coli naturally form a succinyl-CoA ligase complex that catalyzes the formation of succinyl-CoA from succinate with the concomitant consumption of one ATP, a reaction which is reversible in vivo (Gruys et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,745, filed Sep. 28, 1999). Such enzymes may also acylate formate naturally or can be engineered to do so. Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

Additional exemplary CoA-ligases include the rat dicarboxylate-CoA ligase for which the sequence is yet uncharacterized (Vamecq et al., Biochemical J. 230:683-693 (1985)), either of the two characterized phenylacetate-CoA ligases from P. chrysogenum (Lamas-Maceiras et al., Biochem. J 395:147-155 (2005); Wang et al., Biochem Biophy Res Commun 360(2):453-458 (2007)), the phenylacetate-CoA ligase from Pseudomonas putida (Martinez-Blanco et al., J. Biol. Chem. 265:7084-7090 (1990)), and the 6-carboxyhexanoate-CoA ligase from Bacillus subtilis (Bower et al., J. Bacteriol. 178(14):4122-4130 (1996)). Additional candidate enzymes are acetoacetyl-CoA synthetases from Mus musculus (Hasegawa et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1779:414-419 (2008)) and hom*o sapiens (Ohgami et al., Biochem. Pharmacol. 65:989-994 (2003)), which naturally catalyze the ATP-dependent conversion of acetoacetate into acetoacetyl-CoA. 4-Hydroxybutyryl-CoA synthetase activity has been demonstrated in Metallosphaera sedula (Berg et al., Science 318:1782-1786 (2007)). This function has been tentatively assigned to the Msed_1422 gene. Such enzymes may also acylate formate naturally or can be engineered to do so. Information related to these proteins and genes is shown below.

Several acyl-CoA dehydrogenases are capable of reducing an acyl-CoA (e.g., formyl-CoA) to its corresponding aldehyde (e.g., formaldehyde) (Steps F, FIG. 3). Exemplary genes that encode such enzymes include the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus acr1 encoding a fatty acyl-CoA reductase (Reiser and Somerville, J. Bacteriol. 179:2969-2975 (1997), the Acinetobacter sp. M-1 fatty acyl-CoA reductase (Ishige et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:1192-1195 (2002), and a CoA- and NADP-dependent succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase encoded by the sucD gene in Clostridium kluyveri (Sohling and Gottschalk, J. Bacteriol. 178:871-880 (1996); Sohling and Gottschalk, J. Bacteriol. 1778:871-880 (1996)). SucD of P. gingivalis is another succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase (Takahashi et al., J. Bacteriol. 182:4704-4710 (2000). The enzyme acylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in Pseudomonas sp, encoded by bphG, is yet another candidate as it has been demonstrated to oxidize and acylate acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, butyraldehyde, isobutyraldehyde and formaldehyde (Powlowski et al., J. Bacteriol. 175:377-385 (1993)). In addition to reducing acetyl-CoA to ethanol, the enzyme encoded by adhE in Leuconostoc mesenteroides has been shown to oxidize the branched chain compound isobutyraldehyde to isobutyryl-CoA (Kazahaya et al., J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. 18:45-55 (1972); Koo et al., Biotechnol. Lett. 27:505-510 (2005)). Butyraldehyde dehydrogenase catalyzes a similar reaction, conversion of butyryl-CoA to butyraldehyde, in solventogenic organisms such as Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum (Kosaka et al., Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 71:58-68 (2007)). Additional aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme candidates are found in Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans, Citrobacter koseri, Salmonella enterica, Lactobacillus brevis and Bacillus selenitireducens. Such enzymes may be capable of naturally converting formyl-CoA to formaldehyde or can be engineered to do so.

An additional enzyme type that converts an acyl-CoA to its corresponding aldehyde is malonyl-CoA reductase which transforms malonyl-CoA to malonic semialdehyde. Malonyl-CoA reductase is a key enzyme in autotrophic carbon fixation via the 3-hydroxypropionate cycle in thermoacidophilic archaeal bacteria (Berg et al., Science 318:1782-1786 (2007); Thauer, Science 318:1732-1733 (2007)). The enzyme utilizes NADPH as a cofactor and has been characterized in Metallosphaera and Sulfolobus spp (Alber et al., J. Bacteriol. 188:8551-8559 (2006); Hugler et al., J. Bacteriol. 184:2404-2410 (2002)). The enzyme is encoded by Msed_0709 in Metallosphaera sedula (Alber et al., supra (2006); Berg et al., Science 318:1782-1786 (2007)). A gene encoding a malonyl-CoA reductase from Sulfolobus tokodaii was cloned and heterologously expressed in E. coli (Alber et al., J. Bacteriol. 188:8551-8559 (2006)). This enzyme has also been shown to catalyze the conversion of methylmalonyl-CoA to its corresponding aldehyde (WO 2007/141208 (2007)). Although the aldehyde dehydrogenase functionality of these enzymes is similar to the bifunctional dehydrogenase from Chloroflexus aurantiacus, there is little sequence similarity. Both malonyl-CoA reductase enzyme candidates have high sequence similarity to aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase, an enzyme catalyzing the reduction and concurrent dephosphorylation of aspartyl-4-phosphate to aspartate semialdehyde. Additional gene candidates can be found by sequence hom*ology to proteins in other organisms including Sulfolobus solfataricus and Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and have been listed below. Yet another candidate for CoA-acylating aldehyde dehydrogenase is the aid gene from Clostridium beijerinckii (Toth et al., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:4973-4980 (1999). This enzyme has been reported to reduce acetyl-CoA and butyryl-CoA to their corresponding aldehydes. This gene is very similar to eutE that encodes acetaldehyde dehydrogenase of Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli (Toth et al., supra). Such enzymes may be capable of naturally converting formyl-CoA to formaldehyde or can be engineered to do so.

Formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase ligates formate to tetrahydrofolate at the expense of one ATP. This reaction is catalyzed by the gene product of Moth_0109 in M. thermoacetica (O'brien et al., Experientia Suppl. 26:249-262 (1976); Lovell et al., Arch. Microbiol. 149:280-285 (1988); Lovell et al., Biochemistry 29:5687-5694 (1990)), FHS in Clostridium acidurici (Whitehead and Rabinowitz, J. Bacteriol. 167:203-209 (1986); Whitehead and Rabinowitz, J. Bacteriol. 170:3255-3261 (1988), and CHY 2385 in C. hydrogenoformans (Wu et al., PLoS Genet. 1:e65 (2005). hom*ologs exist in C. carboxidivorans P7. This enzyme is found in several other organisms as listed below.

In M. thermoacetica, E. coli, and C. hydrogenoformans, methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase and methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase are carried out by the bi-functional gene products of Moth_1516, folD, and CHY_1878, respectively (Pierce et al., Environ. Microbiol. 10:2550-2573 (2008); Wu et al., PLoS Genet. 1:e65 (2005); D'Ari and Rabinowitz, J. Biol. Chem. 266:23953-23958 (1991)). A hom*olog exists in C. carboxidivorans P7. Several other organisms also encode for this bifunctional protein as tabulated below.

Methylene-THF, or active formaldehyde, will spontaneously decompose to formaldehyde and THF (Thomdike and Beck, Cancer Res. 1977, 37(4) 1125-32; Ordonez and Caraballo, Psychopharmacol Commun. 1975 1(3) 253-60; Kallen and Jencks, 1966, J Biol Chem 241(24) 5851-63). To achieve higher rates, a formaldehyde-forming enzyme can be applied. Such an activity can be obtained by engineering an enzyme that reversibly forms methylene-THF from THF and a formaldehyde donor, to release free formaldehyde. Such enzymes include glycine cleavage system enzymes which naturally transfer a formaldehyde group from methylene-THF to glycine (see Step L, FIG. 3 for candidate enzymes). Additional enzymes include serine hydroxymethyltransferase (see Step M, FIG. 3 for candidate enzymes), dimethylglycine dehydrogenase (Porter, et al., Arch Biochem Biophys. 1985, 243(2) 396-407; Brizio et al., 2004, (37) 2, 434-442), sarcosine dehydrogenase (Porter, et al., Arch Biochem Biophys. 1985, 243(2) 396-407), and dimethylglycine oxidase (Leys, et al., 2003, The EMBO Journal 22(16) 4038-4048).

The reversible NAD(P)H-dependent conversion of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate and CO₂ to glycine is catalyzed by the glycine cleavage complex, also called glycine cleavage system, composed of four protein components; P, H, T and L. The glycine cleavage complex is involved in glycine catabolism in organisms such as E. coli and glycine biosynthesis in eukaryotes (Kikuchi et al, Proc Jpn Acad Ser 84:246 (2008)). The glycine cleavage system of E. coli is encoded by four genes: gcvPHT and lpdA (Okamura et al, Eur J Biochem 216:539-48 (1993); Heil et al, Microbiol 148:2203-14 (2002)). Activity of the glycine cleavage system in the direction of glycine biosynthesis has been demonstrated in vivo in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Maaheimo et al, Eur J Biochem 268:2464-79 (2001)). The yeast GCV is encoded by GCV1, GCV2, GCV3 and LPD1.

Conversion of glycine to serine is catalyzed by serine hydroxymethyltransferase, also called glycine hydroxymethyltranferase. This enzyme reversibly converts glycine and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate to serine and THF. Serine methyltransferase has several side reactions including the reversible cleavage of 3-hydroxyacids to glycine and an aldehyde, and the hydrolysis of 5,10-methenyl-THF to 5-formyl-THF. This enzyme is encoded by glyA of E. coli (Plamann et al, Gene 22:9-18 (1983)). Serine hydroxymethyltranferase enzymes of S. cerevisiae include SHM1 (mitochondrial) and SHM2 (cytosolic) (McNeil et al, J Biol Chem 269:9155-65 (1994)). Similar enzymes have been studied in Corynebacterium glutamicum and Methylobacterium extorquens (Chistoserdova et al, J. Bacteriol 176:6759-62 (1994); Schweitzer et al, J Biotechnol 139:214-21 (2009)).

Serine can be deaminated to pyruvate by serine deaminase. Serine deaminase enzymes are present in several organisms including Clostridium acidurici (Carter, et al., 1972, J. Bacteriol., 109(2) 757-763), Escherichia coli (Cicchillo et al., 2004, J Biol Chem., 279(31) 32418-25), and Corneybacterium sp. (Netzer et al., Appl Environ Microbiol. 2004 December; 70(12):7148-55).

In M. thermoacetica, this enzyme is oxygen-sensitive and contains an iron-sulfur cluster (Clark and Ljungdahl, J. Biol. Chem. 259:10845-10849 (1984). This enzyme is encoded by metF in E. coli (Sheppard et al., J. Bacteriol. 181:718-725 (1999) and CHY_1233 in C. hydrogenoformans (Wu et al., PLoS Genet. 1:e65 (2005). The M. thermoacetica genes, and its C. hydrogenoformans counterpart, are located near the CODH/ACS gene cluster, separated by putative hydrogenase and heterodisulfide reductase genes. Some additional gene candidates found bioinformatically are listed below. In Acetobacterium woodii metF is coupled to the Rnf complex through RnfC2 (Poehlein et al, PLoS One. 7:e33439). hom*ologs of RnfC are found in other organisms by blast search. The Rnf complex is known to be a reversible complex (Fuchs (2011) Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 65:631-658).

Acetyl-CoA synthase is the central enzyme of the carbonyl branch of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway. It catalyzes the synthesis of acetyl-CoA from carbon monoxide, coenzyme A, and the methyl group from a methylated corrinoid-iron-sulfur protein. The corrinoid-iron-sulfur-protein is methylated by methyltetrahydrofolate via a methyltransferase. Expression in a foreign host entails introducing one or more of the following proteins and their corresponding activities: Methyltetrahydrofolate:corrinoid protein methyltransferase (AcsE), Corrinoid iron-sulfur protein (AcsD), Nickel-protein assembly protein (AcsF), Ferredoxin (Orf7), Acetyl-CoA synthase (AcsB and AcsC), Carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (AcsA), and Nickel-protein assembly protein (CooC).

The genes used for carbon-monoxide dehydrogenase/acetyl-CoA synthase activity typically reside in a limited region of the native genome that can be an extended operon (Ragsdale, S. W., Crit. Rev. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 39:165-195 (2004); Morton et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266:23824-23828 (1991); Roberts et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86:32-36 (1989). Each of the genes in this operon from the acetogen, M. thermoacetica, has already been cloned and expressed actively in E. coli (Morton et al. supra; Roberts et al. supra; Lu et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:5605-5614 (1993). The protein sequences of these genes can be identified by the following GenBank accession numbers.

The hydrogenic bacterium, Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans, can utilize carbon monoxide as a growth substrate by means of acetyl-CoA synthase (Wu et al., PLoS Genet. 1:e65 (2005)). In strain Z-2901, the acetyl-CoA synthase enzyme complex lacks carbon monoxide dehydrogenase due to a frameshift mutation (Wu et al. supra (2005)), whereas in strain DSM 6008, a functional unframeshifted full-length version of this protein has been purified (Svetlitchnyi et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101:446-451 (2004)). The protein sequences of the C. hydrogenoformans genes from strain Z-2901 can be identified by the following GenBank accession numbers.

hom*ologous ACS/CODH genes can also be found in the draft genome assembly of Clostridium carboxidivorans P7.