In addition to being an essential amino acid in protein synthesis, threonine is an integral component of gut function. To verify the effects of l-threonine on gut function, Babcock Brown layers (n = 960; 40 wk of age) were allocated to 5 dietary treatment groups, each of which included 6 replicates of 32 hens. Each group received the same basal diet formulated with corn, peanut meal, and crysta...

Threonine is the second or third limiting amino acid in swine or poultry diets. This nutrient plays a critical role in the maintenance of intestinal mucosal integrity and barrier function, which can be indicated by intestinal morphology, mucus production (number of goblet cells), transepithelial permeability, brush border enzyme activity, and growth performance. Dietary threonine restriction ma...

Riboflavin production in the filamentous fungus Ashbya gossypii is limited by glycine, an early precursor required for purine synthesis. We report an improvement of riboflavin production in this fungus by overexpression of the glycine biosynthetic enzyme threonine aldolase. The GLY1 gene encoding the threonine aldolase of A. gossypii was isolated by heterologous complementation of the glycine-a...