Genetic manipulation was undertaken in order to understand the mechanism involved in the heterologous synthesis of lycopene in Escherichia coli. Knockout of the central carbon metabolic gene zwf (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) resulted in the enhancement of lycopene production (above 130 % relative to control). The amplification and overexpression of rate-limiting steps encoded by idi (isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase), dxs (1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase) and ispDF (4-diphosphocytidyl-2C-methyl-D-erythritol synthase and 2C-methyl-D-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate synthase) genes improved lycopene synthesis from 0.89 to 5.39 mg g(-1) DCW. The combination of central metabolic genes knockout with the amplification of MEP pathway genes yielded best amounts of lycopene (6.85-7.55 mg g(-1) DCW). Transcript profiling revealed that idi and dxs were up-regulated in the zwf knock-out strain, providing a plausible explanation for the increase in lycopene yield observed in this strain. An increase in precursor availability might also have contributed to the improved lycopene production.