Nippon Kayaku Kabushiki Kaisha

Ikeda Food Research Co., Ltd.

Hideki Yoshioka

Minoru Masuda

Shuhei Tsukamoto

Hironori Omura

Hirokazu Sanada

Emi Ishimaru

Reiko Machida

Yoshihiko Umegae

Masahiko Yabuuchi

Shinji Fujita

Hajime Asada

The object of the present invention is to provide a method of determining 1,5-anhydroglucitol, including using (a) a protein which consists of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; (b) a protein which consists of an amino acid sequence having deletion, substitution and/or addition of one or more amino acid residues in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and which has sorbose dehydrogenase activity; or (c) a protein which consists of an amino acid sequence having a homology of at least 60% with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 and which has sorbose dehydrogenase activity.

Method of determining 1,5-anhydroglucitol, and reagent composition for determining 1,5-anhydroglucitol

A protein comprising an amino acid sequence having at least one mutation selected from a Gly-4 to Ala mutation, a Glu-6 to His mutation, a Ser-14 to Thr mutation, an Ala-37 to Thr or Arg mutation, a Pro-50 to Gln mutation, a Glu-67 to Gly mutation, an Asp-80 to Tyr mutation, a Val-93 to Met mutation, an Arg-156 to Pro mutation, a Leu-164 to Met mutation, an Asn-202 to Asp mutation, a Thr-235 to Ala mutation, an Asn-348 to Tyr mutation, a Gly-362 to Arg mutation and a Val-473 to Ala mutation in the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ II NO:4. (2) A thermostable protein which comprises an amino acid sequence derived from the amino acid sequence having at least one variation described in (1) and having 1,5-anhydroglucitol dehydrogenase activity. These proteins act specifically on 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG), have thermal stability and exhibit excellent storage stability.

Thermostable 1,5-anhydroglucitol dehydrogenase, and method for measurement of 1,5-anhydroglucitol by using the same

The invention provides a novel process for the production of 6.beta.,14.alpha.-dihydroxy-4-androstene-3,17-dione which comprises culturing a microorganism belonging to the genus Myrothecium and capable of hydrolyzing 4-androstene-3,17-dione to produce 6.beta.,14.alpha.-dihydroxy-4-androstene-3,17-dione in a medium supplemented with 4-androstene-3,17-dione, and isolating 6.beta.,14.alpha.-dihydroxy-4-androstene-3,17-dione from the cultured medium. According to the process of the present invention, 6.beta.,14.alpha.-dihydroxy-4-androstene-3,17-dione and 14.alpha.-hydroxy-4-androstene-3,6,17-trione can be produced with a high yield in a simple manner.

Process for producing 6.beta.,14.alpha.-dihydroxy-4-androstene-3,

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Takasaki, Japan

Hideki Yoshioka