Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation

Mitsubishi Rayon Company, Limited

Aya Kitahara

Fumiaki Watanabe

Ai Hara

Takanori Ambo

Takanori Akiyama

Miki Wakamatsu

Provided is an improved nitrile hydratase with improved catalytic activity. Also provided are DNA for coding the improved nitrile hydratase, a recombinant vector that contains the DNA, a transformant that contains the recombinant vector, nitrile hydratase acquired from a culture of the transformant, and a method for producing the nitrile hydratase. Also provided is a method for producing an amide compound that uses the culture or a processed product of the culture. The improved nitrile hydratase contains an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 50 (GXXXXDXXR) in a beta subunit, and is characterized in that Xis an amino acid selected from a group comprising cysteine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, histidine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine, asparagine, proline, glutamine, serine and threonine.

Nitrile hydratase

Provided is a novel improved nitrile hydratase with improved resistance to amide compounds under high temperatures. Specifically provided is a nitrile hydratase having at least one amino acid mutation selected from (a) to (d) below, in the amino acid sequence expressed in SEQ ID NO:50 (Xto Xrepresent independent arbitrarily-defined amino acid residuals). (a) Xis valine or glycine (b) Xis valine or threonine (c) Xis an amino acid selected from a group consisting of isoleucine, leucine, methionine and threonine, (d) Xis leucine.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Aya Kitahara