Methods and microorganisms for production of panto-compounds

A method for producing a panto-compound comprising:

• (a) transforming a microorganism with a vector to produce a recombinant microorganism, wherein said vector comprises a panE gene encoding a ketopantoate reductase polypeptide with 95% or greater amino acid identity to SEQ ID NO:30, operably linked to a constitutively active promoter set forth in SEQ ID NO:40, and further operably linked to a regulatory sequence comprising an artificial ribosome binding site (RBS), set forth in SEQ ID NO:50;
• (b) growing said recombinant microorganism in an appropriate culture medium and under conditions suitable for the production of said panto-compound;
• and
• (c) recovering said panto-compound from said culture medium.

A method for producing a panto-compound comprising:

• (a) transforming a microorganism with a vector to produce a recombinant microorganism, wherein said vector comprises a panE gene encoding a ketopantoate reductase polypeptide with 95% or greater amino acid identity to SEQ ID NO:30, operably linked to a constitutively active promoter set forth in SEQ ID NO:40, and further operably linked to a regulatory sequence comprising an artificial ribosome binding site (RBS), set forth in SEQ ID NO:50;
• (b) further transforming said recombinant microorganism with a vector comprising a panBCD operon encoding ketopantoate hydroxymethyltransferase, pantothenate synthase and aspartate 1-decarboxylase polypeptides with 95% or greater amino acid identity to SEQ ID NO:24, 26, and 28, operably linked to a constitutively active promoter set forth in SEQ ID NO:40, and further operably linked to a regulatory sequence comprising an artificial ribosome binding site (RBS), set forth in SEQ ID NO:50;
• (c) growing said recombinant microorganism in an appropriate culture medium and under conditions suitable for the production of said panto-compound;
• and
• (d) recovering said panto-compound from said culture medium.