BIOTECHNOLOGICAL PRODUCTION OF ALCOHOLS AND DERIVATIVES THEREOF
The present invention relates to a microorganism having a reduced fatty acid degradation capacity and expressing a recombinant alkane oxidase, a method for oxidizing an alkyl, comprising a contacting the alkyl with an aqueous solution comprising the inventive cell.
1 . A microorganism having a reduced fatty acid degradation capacity and expressing a recombinant alkane oxidase.
2 . The microorganism according to claim 1 , wherein the expressed recombinant alkane oxidase is selected from the group consisting of a rubredoxin-dependent alkane oxidase, a cytochrome P450 enzyme, a xylene monooxygenase, a methane monooxygenase, and variants thereof.
3 . The microorganism according to claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid degradation capacity is reduced due to deletion of a gene encoding an enzyme selected from the group consisting of a fatty acid importer, a fatty acid-CoA ligase, an acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, a 2,4-dienoyl-CoA reductase, an enoyl-CoA hydratase and a 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase.
4 . The microorganism according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism is a prokaryotic or a lower eukaryotic cell.
5 . The microorganism according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism expresses a recombinant alcohol dehydrogenase.
6 . The microorganism according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism expresses a recombinant transaminase.
7 . The microorganism according to claim 6 , wherein the microorganism expresses a recombinant amino acid dehydrogenase.
8 . A method for oxidizing an alkyl, comprising
a) contacting the alkyl with an aqueous solution comprising the microorganism according to claim 1 .
9 . The method according to claim 8 , further comprising
b) contacting the aqueous solution from a) with a water-immiscible organic solvent.
10 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein b) is carried out following completion of the alkyl oxidation.
11 . (canceled)
12 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the alkyl is a compound represented by the formula H—(CH 2 ) x —R, wherein x is 1 to 30, and R is any chemical group.
13 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the alkyl is a linear alkane.
14 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the water-immiscible organic solvent is a water-immiscible fatty acid or fatty acid ester.
15 . The microorganism according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism is a bacterial cell.
16 . The microorganism according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism is E. coli.
17 . The microorganism according to claim 7 , wherein the recombinant amino acid dehydrogenase is an alanine dehydrogenase.