Patent ID: 7659097

Claim:
A method for producing an isoprenoid comprising: (a) obtaining a plurality of bacterial or fungal host cells that comprise a heterologous nucleic acid encoding one or more enzymes of a mevalonate pathway for making isopentenyl pyrophosphate, wherein expression of the one or more enzymes is under control of at least one heterologous transcriptional regulator, wherein said mevalonate pathway comprises (i) an enzyme that condenses acetoacetyl-CoA with acetyl-CoA to form HMG-CoA; (ii) an enzyme that converts HMG-CoA to mevalonate; (iii) an enzyme that phosphorylates mevalonate to mevalonate 5-phosphate; (iv) an enzyme that converts mevalonate 5-phosphate to mevalonate 5-pyrophosphate; and (v) an enzyme that converts mevalonate 5-pyrophosphate to isopentenyl pyrophosphate; and (b) culturing the bacterial or fungal host cells in a medium in which carbon source is limited so that the medium provides for about 75% or less of maximum specific growth rate for the bacterial or fungal host cells, wherein said maximum specific growth rate is a rate that would have been achieved by culturing the bacterial or fungal host cells under optimal temperature for growth of the bacterial or fungal host cells, and in a medium in which nutrients are present in excess.