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Abstract

This invention provides compositions and methods for monitoring and regulating the production of a target product of a biochemical pathway in an organism, such as butanol. A gene encoding a light-emitting reporter molecule, such as luciferase, is operatively linked with a transcription regulatory nucleotide sequence that regulates transcription of an enzyme in the pathway that signals the rate of production of the target product, such as butanol dehydrogenase. When a microorganism is transfected with such a reporter construct and cultured, the reporter is expressed contemporaneously with the enzyme. The amount of light produced by the reporter indicates amount of enzyme being produced which, in turn, signals the amount of target product being produced. When the reporter is measured in real time, it provides information that can be used to regulate culture conditions and to optimize production of the target product.

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First Claim