Patent ID: 7666625

Claim:
A method of producing a heterologous protein, comprising: (a) cultivating a mutant Bacillus licheniformis cell transformed with a nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleic acid directing synthesis of the heterologous protein in a medium suitable for the production of the heterologous protein, wherein the mutant cell comprises a deletion mutation in a cypX gene, a yvmC gene, or both genes, in which the deletion mutation(s) renders the cell deficient in red pigment compared to a wild-type Bacillus licheniformis cell comprising the cypX gene, the yvmC gene, or both genes, wherein the cypX gene comprises a nucleic acid sequence having at least 95% homology to SEQ ID NO: 1 and the yvmC gene comprises a nucleic acid sequence having at least 95% homology to SEQ ID NO: 7; and (b) recovering the heterologous protein from the cultivation medium.