ABSTRACT The efficient production of the textile dye indigo by fermentation has been a goal since the early 1980's when the first bacterial strains capable of this synthesis were

constructed. We report here the development of a recombinant microorganism that directly synthesizes indigo from glucose. This construction involved the cloning and genetic manipulation of

at least 9 genes and modifications of the fermentation medium to help stabilize the biosynthetic activity. Directed genetic changes in two operons caused significant increases in reaction

rates and in the stability of the catalytic enzymes. This example of whole cell catalysis by a recombinant _Escherichia coli_ represents a novel and environmentally sound approach to the

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GENE CLUSTERS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DIVERSE COMPOUNDS Article 04 March 2024 A GALACTOSE-BASED AUTO-EXPRESSION SYSTEM IMPROVES T7-INDUCIBLE PROTEIN PRODUCTION IN _ESCHERICHIA COLI_ Article

Open access 15 March 2025 AWAKENING THE NATURAL CAPABILITY OF PSICOSE PRODUCTION IN _ESCHERICHIA COLI_ Article Open access 14 October 2023 REFERENCES * Nagahari, K., Tanaka, P., Hishimura,

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Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * Burt D. Ensley: Corresponding author. AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Amgen, Inc., 1840 Dehavilland Dr., Thousand Oaks, CA, 93120 Douglas

Murdock & Cuneyt Serdar * Envirogen, Inc., 4100 Quakerbridge Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ, 08648 Burt D. Ensley * RiVM, PO Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands Marcel Thalen Authors *

Douglas Murdock View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Burt D. Ensley View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * Cuneyt Serdar View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Marcel Thalen View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Murdock, D., Ensley, B., Serdar, C. _et al._ Construction of Metabolic

Operons Catalyzing the _De Novo_ Biosynthesis of Indigo in _Escherichia coli_. _Nat Biotechnol_ 11, 381–386 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0393-381 Download citation * Received: 29

September 1992 * Accepted: 28 December 1992 * Issue Date: 01 March 1993 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0393-381 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to

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