NOVELTY - A recombinant microorganism comprising a metabolic pathway for the synthesis of acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) and isocitrate from a four-carbon substrate using a pathway comprising one or more polypeptides having malate thiokinase activity, malyl-CoA lyase activity and/or isocitrate lyase activity, is new.    USE - The recombinant microorganism is useful for converting a 4-carbon substrate to isocitrate and two acetyl-CoAs comprising ATP and CoA, producing 1-butanol, increasing biomass or oil production in a plant, producing a recombinant plant used in producing a product, e.g. food, drink, animal feed, fiber, oil, chemicals, fatty acids, isoprenoids, pharmaceutical and/or biofuel (all claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The recombinant microorganism has a revere glyoxylate shunt, and efficiently produces transformed plant having improved properties.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for:    (1) a cell-free system for converting a 4-carbon substrate to isocitrate and two acetyl-CoAs comprising ATP and CoA and: (i) an enzyme the converts malate to malyl-CoA; (ii) an enzyme the converts malyl-CoA to glycosylate and acetyl-CoA; (iii) an enzyme that converts isocitrate to citrate; and (iv) an enzyme that converts citrate to oxaloacetate;    (2) a recombinant microorganism for producing 1-butanol, which comprises: (i) an enzyme the converts malate to malyl-CoA; (ii) an enzyme the converts malyl-CoA to glycosylate and acetyl-CoA; (iii) an enzyme that converts isocitrate to citrate; (iv) an enzyme that converts citrate to oxaloacetate; (v) an enzyme that converts acetyl-CoA to acetoacetyl-CoA, and at least one enzyme that converts (a) acetoacetyl-CoA to (R)- or (S)-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA and (R)- or (S)-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA; (vi) an enzyme that converts crotonyl-CoA to butyryl-CoA; and (vii) an enzyme that converts butyryl-CoA to butyraldehyde and butyraldehyde to 1-butanol;    (3) a recombinant plant engineered to express one or more polypeptides having activity selected form malate thiokinase activity, malyl-CoA lyase activity, pyruvate, ferrodoxin oxidoreductase activity and fumarase reductase activity and where the recombinant plant produces more acetyl-CoA compared to a wild-type of parental plant;    (4) a plant part obtained from the recombinant plant;    (5) a product produced from the recombinant plant, and/or the plant part;    (6) a method for increasing biomass or oil production in a plant, which involves: introducing into a plant, plant part, and/or plant cell one or more heterologous polynucleotides encoding polypeptides having the enzyme activity of aconitase, NADP-malate dehydrogenase, fumarase, fumarate reductase, ATP-ctriate lyase, pyrufate: ferrodoxin oxidoreductase, malate thiokinase, malyl-CoA lyase, isocitrate lyase, and pyruvate carboxylase to produce a stably transformed plant, plant part, and/or plant cell expressing the one or more heterologous polynucleotides;    (7) a stably transformed plant, plant part or plant cell produced by the latter method; and/or comprises one or more heterologous polynucleotides encoding polypeptides having the enzyme activity of aconitase, NADP-malate dehydrogenase, fumarase, fumarate reductase, ATP-ctriate lyase, pyrufate: ferrodoxin oxidoreductase, malate thiokinase, malyl-CoA lyase, isocitrate lyase, and pyruvate carboxylase; and    (8) a seed of the stably transformed plant, where the seed comprises in its genome the one or more heterologous polynucleotides encoding polypeptides having the enzyme activity of aconitase, NADP-malate dehydrogenase, fumarase, fumarate reductase, ATP-ctriate lyase, pyrufate: ferrodoxin oxidoreductase, malate thiokinase, malyl-CoA lyase, isocitrate lyase, and pyruvate carboxylase.