Microbial engineering for the production of chemical and pharmaceutical products from the isoprenoid pathway

1. A method for making a terpenoid compound, the method comprising:

creating or obtaining a library of E. coli cells that each produce isopentyl pyrophosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) through an upstream methylerythritol pathway (MEP) and convert the IPP and DMAPP to a terpenoid through a recombinantly expressed downstream terpenoid synthesis pathway, wherein the cells in the library express genes in the downstream pathway with varying expression levels and genes in the upstream pathway with varying expression levels;

selecting an E. coli cell based on a higher level of terpenoid production, a lower level of indole accumulation, or both a higher level of terpenoid production and a lower level of indole accumulation, said cell having balanced upstream and downstream pathway expression;

culturing a cell having the balanced upstream and downstream pathway expression to produce said terpenoid.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said genes in the upstream pathway that are balanced with respect to genes in the downstream pathway are dxs, idi, ispD, and ispF.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein dxs, idi, ispD, and ispF are expressed together on an operon.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the operon is integrated into the E. coli genome.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the downstream pathway comprises a diterpenoid synthase enzyme; and a geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGPPS) enzyme.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the downstream pathway produces taxadiene.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the downstream pathway produces Citronellol, Nootkatone, Cineol, Limonene, Eleutherobin, Sarcodictyin, Pseudoopterosin, Ginkgolide, Stevioside, Rebaudioside A, sclareol, labdenediol, levopimaradiene, sandracopimaradiene, or isopemaradiene.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the diterpenoid synthase and GGPPS enzyme are expressed together on an operon.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein expression of said genes of the upstream pathway and said genes in the downstream pathway are varied by altering: the promoter strengths, order of genes expressed together on an operon, and/or gene or operon copy number.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the genes or operons are integrated into the chromosome.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the terpenoid is produced at milligrams per liter scale.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the terpenoid is recovered by adding an organic layer, and recovering terpenoid from the organic layer.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said genes in the upstream pathway that are balanced with respect to the downstream pathway comprise dxs with one or more of ispC, ispD, ispE, ispF, ispG, ispH, idi, ispA, and ispB.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said genes in the upstream pathway that are balanced with respect to the downstream pathway comprise dxs with one or more of idi, ispD and ispF.