Recombinant organisms are provided comprising genes encoding aquacobalamin reductase, cob(II)alamin reductase, cob(I)alamin adenosyltransferase, glycerol dehydratase and 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase activities useful for the production of 1,3-propanediol from a variety of carbon substrates. More specifically the following nucleotide sequences are provided: btuR, encoding the E. coli cob(I)alamin adenosyltransferase enzyme; cobA, encoding the Salmonella typhimurium cob(I)alamin adenosyltransferase enzyme; cobO, encoding the Pseudomonas denitrificans cob(I)alamin adenosyltransferase enzyme; dhaB1, encoding the .alpha. subunit of the Klebsiella glycerol dehydratase enzyme; dhaB2, encoding the .beta. subunit of the Klebsiella glycerol dehydratase enzyme; dhaB3, encoding the .gamma. subunit of the Klebsiella glycerol dehydratase enzyme; dhaT, encoding Klebsiella oxidoreductase enzyme; the yciK gene isolated from E. coli; the glucose isomerase promoter sequence from Streptomyces; and the N-terminal amino acid sequence for cob(II)alamin reductase from Pseudomonas denitrificans.