Table 1 Strains and plasmids used in this study

E. coli strains

 DH5α

F– Φ80lacZΔM15 Δ(lacZYA-argF)U169 recA1 endA1 hsdR17 (rK–, mK +) phoA supE44 λ– thi-1 gyrA96 relA1

Invitrogen (Karlsruhe, Germany)

C. glutamicum strains

 MB001(DE3)

prophage-free derivate of ATCC 13032 with chromosomal expression of T7 RNA polymerase gene under control of P_lacUV5 (IPTG-inducible)

[65]

 DelAro⁴

MB001(DE3) derivative with in-frame deletions of cg0344-cg0347, cg2625-cg2640, cg1226 and cg0502

[27]

 DelAro⁵

DelAro⁴ derivative with in-frame deletion of cg3349-cg3354

This study

 DelAro⁵ C7

DelAro⁵ derivative with an exchange of the native promoter of the citrate synthase gene gltA by the dapA promoter variant C7

This study

 DelAro⁵ P_O6-iolT1

DelAro⁵ derivative with two point mutations in the promoter of the inositol transporter gene iolT1, abolishes repression of iolT1 by IolR

This study

 DelAro⁵ C7 P_O6-iolT1

DelAro⁵ derivative with combined modifications of DelAro⁵ C7 and DelAro⁵ P_O6-iolT1

This study

Plasmids

 pMKEx2

kan^r; E. coli-C. glutamicum shuttle vector (lacI, P_T7, lacO1, pHM1519 ori _Cg ; pACYC177 ori _Ec )

[65]

 pMKEx2_aroF*_qsuB

pMKEx2 derivate for expression of genes coding for AroF* from E. coli (codon-optimized gene) and for QsuB of C. glutamicum (native gene)

This study

 pMKEx2_aroF*_irp9

pMKEx2 derivate for expression of genes coding for AroF* from E. coli (codon-optimized) and for Irp9 from Yersinia enterocolitica (codon-optimized)

This study

 pMKEx2_aroF*_hyg5

pMKEx2 derivate for expression of genes coding for AroF* from E. coli (codon-optimized) and for Hyg5 from Streptomyces hygroscopicus (codon-optimized)

This study

 pMKEx2_aroF*_ubiC

pMKEx2 derivate for expression of genes coding for AroF* (codon-optimized) and for UbiC (native gene) from E. coli

This study

 pMKEx2_aroH_ubiC

pMKEx2 derivate for expression of genes coding for AroH (native gene) and for UbiC (native gene) from E. coli

This study

 pEKEx3

spec^r; E. coli-C. glutamicum shuttle vector (lacI, P _tac , lacO1, pBL1ori _Cg ; pUCori _Ec )

[66]

 pEKEx3_tkt

pEKEx3 derivate for overexpression of the transketolase gene tkt of C. glutamicum (the TTG start codon of tkt was replaced for ATG)

This study

 pK19mobsacB

kan^r; vector for allelic exchange in C. glutamicum (pK18 oriV _Ec sacB lacZα)

[33]

 pK19mobsacB_cg3349-54-updown

pK19mobsacB derivate for the in-frame deletion of cg3349-54

This study

 pK19mobsacB_P_O6-iolT1

pK19mobsacB derivate for introducing the mutagenized operator sequence into the iolT1 promoter region

[48]

 pK19mobsacB_ΔP _gltA :P _dapA -C7

pK19mobsacB derivate for exchanging the native gltA promoter for the dapA promoter variant C7

[50]