NOVELTY - Cell expressing an amino acid-N-acyl-transferase, which is preferably recombinant, and an acyl-CoA synthetase, which is preferably recombinant, is new. The cell has a reduced fatty acid degradation capacity.    USE - The cell is useful for producing proteinogenic amino acids and/or fatty acids and acyl amino acids, where the proteinogenic amino acid is glycine (preferred), glutamine, glutamate, asparagine and alanine, and the fatty acid is an unsaturated fatty acid, preferably myristoleic acid, lauroleic acid, palmitoleic acid or cis-vaccenic acid, or a saturated fatty acid, preferably laurate, myristate or palmitate (all claimed). The acyl amino acids are useful as detergents for washing purposes, emulsifiers in food products, essential ingredients in personal care products such as shampoos, soaps and moisturizing agents and as neuromodulators and probes for new drug targets.    ADVANTAGE - The cell is capable of readily producing the proteinogenic amino acids at a large scale using inexpensive biological raw materials in an eco-friendly manner.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for:    (1) producing acyl amino acids, comprising contacting an amino acid and an acyl coenzyme A (CoA) in the presence of an amino acid-N-acyl-transferase, which is preferably isolated and/or recombinant, where the amino acid-N-acyl-transferase is preferably a human amino acid-N-acyl-transferase comprising SEQ ID NO: 4 (a 882 base pair sequence fully defined in the specification) or SEQ ID NO: 5 (a 864 base pair sequence fully defined in the specification) or its variant, and the acyl-CoA synthetase is preferably SEQ ID NO: 6 (a 1686 base pair sequence fully defined in the specification) or its variant, or culturing the cell;    (2) a reaction mixture comprising an amino acid-N-acyl-transferase, which is preferably isolated and/or recombinant, an acyl-CoA synthetase, which is preferably isolated and/or recombinant, an amino acid and either an acyl CoA or a fatty acid and an acyl-CoA-synthetase; and    (3) a composition comprising a first acyl amino acid comprising a saturated acyl having 8-16 carbon atoms and glycine, a second acyl amino acid comprising an unsaturated acyl having 10-18 carbon atoms and glycine, and optionally a third acyl amino acid comprising a saturated or unsaturated acyl having 12 carbon atoms and an amino acid comprising glutamine, glutamic acid, alanine and asparagine.