An objective of the present invention is to provide a transformant altered so as to produce a
secondary metabolite in which a
benzene ring of the secondary product is modified at the para-position with a functional group containing a
nitrogen atom. A transformant according to the present invention is a transformant of an
organism producing a
secondary metabolite having a
benzene ring skeleton without substitution at the para-position with a functional group containing a
nitrogen atom, said transformant being transformed by introducing genes involved in a biosynthetic pathway from
chorismic acid to p-aminophenylpyruvic acid, including a
gene encoding an
amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2) having 4-amino-4-deoxychorismic acid synthase activity, a
gene encoding an
amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 4) having 4-amino-4-deoxychorismic acid
mutase activity and a
gene encoding an
amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 6) having 4-amino-4-deoxyprephenic acid
dehydrogenase activity, so as to produce a
secondary metabolite having a
benzene ring skeleton substituted at the para-position with a functional group containing a
nitrogen atom. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a
novel gene involved in the biosynthetic pathway from
chorismic acid to p-aminophenylpyruvic acid. A
novel gene according to the present invention comprises genes encoding the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4 and 6 or modified sequences thereof.