Methods, synthetic hosts and reagents for the biosynthesis of dienes and derivatives thereof

A method for synthesizing isoprene or derivatives thereof in Cupriavidus necator, said method comprising:

• enzymatically converting isopentenyl-pyrophosphate to dimethylallylpyrophosphate using a polypeptide having isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase enzyme activity, wherein the polypeptide having isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase enzyme activity is capable of converting isopentenyl-pyrophosphate to dimethylallylpyrophosphate and has at least 90% sequence identity to an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2 or is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence having at least 90% sequence identity to the nucleic acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:9;
• and
• enzymatically converting dimethylallylpyrophosphate to isoprene or derivatives thereof using a polypeptide having isoprene synthase enzyme activity, wherein the polypeptide having isoprene synthase enzyme activity is capable of converting dimethylallylpyrophosphate to isoprene and has at least 90% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:
• 7 or is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence having at least 90% sequence identity to the nucleic acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:
• 14.