Patent ID: 7919275

Claim:
An isolated mutant cell produced by a method comprising: disrupting or deleting, in an isolated parent cell, a nucleic acid sequence encoding an oxaloacetate hydrolase, or a promoter thereof, which results in the mutant cell producing less of the oxaloacetate hydrolase than the parent cell, wherein the oxaloacetate hydrolase: (a) comprises an amino acid sequence that has at least 95% identity with amino acids 1-341 of SEQ ID NO: 2 wherein the sequence has oxaloacetate hydrolase activity; (b) is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence having at least 95% homology with the cDNA sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; and/or (c) is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence which hybridizes under high stringency conditions with the cDNA sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or the complete complementary strand of the cDNA sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the high stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization and hybridization at 42° C. in 5×SSPE, 0.3% SDS, 200 micrograms/ml sheared and denatured salmon sperm DNA, and 50% formamide, followed by washing three times for 15 minutes using 2×SSC, 0.2% SDS at 70° C.