Abstract:
Disclosed herein are methods, compositions, and hosts for synthesizing hydrocarbons, and derivatives thereof, comprising one or more isoprene units as well as salts or derivatives thereof. An aspect of the present invention thus relates to a method for biosynthesizing hydrocarbons in a recombinant host selected from non-pathogenic members of the genera Ralstonia, Wausteria, Cupriavidus, Alcaligenes, Burkholderia, or Pandoraea. Said recombinant host comprises an exogenous nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide having an enzyme activity selected from 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXS) activity (EC 2.2.1.7) and isoprene synthase enzyme activity (EC 4.2.3.27).