Production of fatty acid derivatives

1. A method of producing a fatty acid ester, the method comprising: culturing a recombinant bacterium genetically engineered to express an exogenous ester synthase (EC 2.3.1.75) having at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 18 and having an amino acid substitution at the residue corresponding to glycine 395 of SEQ ID NO: 18 in culture medium comprising a carbon source, under conditions effective to express the ester synthase, wherein said ester synthase has an increased enzymatic activity relative to that of SEQ ID NO: 18.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising culturing the recombinant bacterium in the presence of an alcohol.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid ester comprises a fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE), a fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), or an ester of a long chain alcohol.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recombinant bacterium is E. coli or a cyanobacteria.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carbon source is a carbohydrate carbon source or glycerol.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the alcohol is one or more of methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, pentanol, hexanol, heptanol, octanol, decanol, dodecanol, tetradecanol and hexadecanol.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fadE gene of the recombinant bacterial host cell is attenuated.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said glycine 395 is replaced with a basic amino acid.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said glycine 395 is replaced with a lysine residue or an arginine residue.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said exogenous gene encodes a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO: 18 having an amino acid substitution at glycine 395.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said glycine 395 is replaced with a basic amino acid.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said glycine 395 is replaced with a lysine residue or an arginine residue.