Table 3 Strains and plasmids in this study

 E. coli DH5α

F−, deoR, endA1, gyrA96, hsdR17(rk − mk+), recA1, relA1, supE44, thi-1, Δ (lacZYA-argF) U169, (Phi80lacZdelM15)

Invitrogen

 C. glutamicum ATCC 13032

Wild type

ATCC

 C. glutamicum ATCC 13826

Wild type; industrial glutamate producers

ATCC

 HM001

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2 + pMTZ

This work

 HM002

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemAL + pMTZ

This work

 HM003

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemAL + pMTZ-hemN

This work

 HM004

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pMTZ

This work

 HM005

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pMTZ-hemH

This work

 HM006

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pMTZ-hemQ_NAT

This work

 HM007

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemAL + pMTZ-hemQ_NAT

This work

 HM008

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemAL + pMTZ-hemQ

This work

 HM009

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemALQ + pMTZ

This work

 BV001

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemAL + pMTZ-hmuO

This work

 BV002

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemALQ + pMTZ-hmuO

This work

 BV003

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemALO + pMTZ-hemQ

This work

 BV004

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemAL + pMTZ-hemQO

This work

 BV005

C. glutamicum ATCC 13826 strain with plasmids pEKEx2-hemAL + pMTZ-hemOQ

This work

 pPsADHα

Zeo^R; P_ADH2, Pichia pastoris integration vector

[50]

 pEKEx2

Kan^R; P_tac, lacI^q, pBL1 oriV_{C. glutamicum}; C. glutamicum / E. coli shuttle vector

[51]

 pMT-tac

Kan^R; P_tac, lacI^q, pCG1 oriV_{C. glutamicum}; C. glutamicum / E. coli shuttle vector

[52]

 pMTZ

Zeo^R; P_tac, lacI^q, pCG1 oriV_{C. glutamicum}; C. glutamicum / E. coli shuttle vector

This work

 pEKEx2-hemAL

pEKEx2 carrying hemA from S. typhimurium and hemL from E. coli

[41]

 pEKEx2-hemALQ

pEKEx2 carrying hemA from S. typhimurium, hemL from E. coli and hemQ from C. glutamicum with an exchange of GTG start codon of hemQ to ATG

This work

 pEKEx2-hemALO

pEKEx2 carrying hemA from S. typhimurium, hemL from E. coli and hmuO from C. glutamicum

This work

 pMTZ-hemN

pMTZ carrying hemN from C. glutamicum

This work

 pMTZ-hemH

pMTZ carrying hemH from C. glutamicum

This work

 pMTZ-hemQ_NAT

pMTZ carrying hemQ from C. glutamicum

This work

 pMTZ-hemQ

pMTZ carrying hemQ from C. glutamicum with an exchange of GTG start codon of hemQ to ATG

This work

 pMTZ-hmuO

pMTZ carrying hmuO from C. glutamicum

This work

 pMTZ-hemQO

pMTZ carrying hemQ from C. glutamicum with an exchange of GTG start codon of hemQ to ATG and hmuO from C. glutamicum

This work

 pMTZ-hemOQ

pMTZ carrying hmuO from C. glutamicum and hemQ from C. glutamicum with an exchange of GTG start codon of hemQ to ATG

This work