S2: Designing proteins for new functions in the mevalonate pathway

Isopentenols (3-methyl-3-butenol, 3-methyl-2-butenol) and isopentanol are five-carbon alcohols shown to have characteristics that make them good biofuels.  We have developed a synthetic pathway in Escherichia coli (E. coli) to produce isopentenols and isopentanol from the mevalonate pathway.  Previously, the mevalonate pathway yielded 27.4 g/L of amorphadiene (the precursor to the antimalarial artemisinin) when heterogously expressed in E. coli in the presence of an amorphadiene synthase.  Therefore, engineering the same pathway in the presence of isopentenol and isopentanol synthases has the potential to reach yields of 37.4 g/L of alcohol.