Directed evolution of biosynthetic and biodegradation pathways

摘要

The present invention relates to engineering new biosynthetic pathways into microorganisms, in particular biosynthetic carotenoid pathways. New and improved catalytic functions of metabolic pathways are created by, for example, site-specific mutation or gene shuffling techniques, to provide for efficient biosynthesis of carotenoids. By applying the described directed evolution techniques, almost any carotenoid could be produced, in a host cell, from one or a few sets of genes. In addition, the described techniques are useful for creating gene or protein libraries for new and uncharacterized carotenoids.