Patent ID: 8691541

Claim:
A method of producing a pentose sugar, the method comprising: (a) culturing recombinant cells comprising (i) a heterologous nucleic acid encoding a 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase and/or 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase polypeptide and/or (ii) more than one copy of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding a 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase and/or 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase polypeptide, wherein the cells are cultured under conditions suitable for producing a pentose sugar; or (b) culturing recombinant cells comprising (i) a heterologous nucleic acid encoding a 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase and/or 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase polypeptide and (ii) one or more copies of an endogenous nucleic acid encoding a 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase and/or 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase polypeptide, wherein the cells are cultured under conditions suitable for producing a pentose sugar; and (c) producing said pentose sugar.