Engineered microbes and methods for microbial oil overproduction from cellulosic materials

An isolated oleaginous cell comprising a nucleic acid construct that increases expression of:

• a xylose isomerase (XYLA) gene product, a xylose reductase (XYL1) gene product and a xylitol dehydrogenase (XYL2) gene product,
• wherein the nucleic acid construct comprises an intron;
• and
• a) an expression cassette comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding the XYLA, XYL1, and XYL2 gene products under the control of a suitable homologous or heterologous promoter;
• and/or
• b) a nucleic acid sequence that modulates the level of expression of the XYLA, XYL1, and XYL2 gene products when inserted into the genome of the cell.