Production of monoterpene blends by unicellular photosynthetic microorganisms

A method of obtaining a blend of monoterpene hydrocarbons from cyanobacteria, the method comprising:

• culturing a cyanobacteria strain that has been genetically modified to express a heterologous β-phellandrene synthase under conditions in which the β-phellandrene synthase is expressed, wherein the heterologous β-phellandrene synthase is encoded by a polynucleotide comprising a β-phellandrene synthase nucleic acid sequence that is codon-optimized for expression in cyanobacteria fused to the 3′ end of a leader nucleic acid sequence encoding a cyanobacteria protein that is expressed in cyanobacteria at a level of at least 1% of the total cellular protein;
• and
• isolating a blend of monoterpene hydrocarbons comprising at least two monoterpenes selected from the group consisting of β-phellandrene, α-phellandrene, β-myrcene, β-pinene, and δ-2-carene produced in the cyanobacteria that has spontaneously diffused from the cyanobacteria intracellular space into the culture medium.