Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd.

Hirofumi Nakamura

Akitaka Nakane

Masao Hirayama

Hidetoshi Kubota

Tadao Endo

Hitoshi Matsumoto

Takashi Adachi

Koji Nishizawa

Koji Yanai

Toshiaki Kono

Takashi Kawakami

Yuko Baba

Akemi Watabe

Yoshihiko Masaki

Kazunari Yoshida

Yasuhito Tashiro

Yuko Nakada

An object of the present invention is to provide a &#x3b2;-fructofuranosidase variant whose reaction specificity is improved to be suitable for the production of fructooligosaccharides. According to the present invention, there is provided a &#x3b2;-fructofuranosidase variant consisting of a mutated amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or a mutated homologue thereof, which has mutations at specific amino acid residues.

&#x3b2;-fructofuranosidase variants

The present invention relates to a composition for organ preservation, comprising an inulin type fructan as an active ingredient. The composition for organ preservation can suppress the hypofunction of an organ and damage to a histological structure and can improve the state of preservation of the organ in the course of organ transplantation and the like.

Composition and method for organ preservation

A deinking method using a cellulase which enables the load upon the environment to be reduced; and an evaluation method whereby a cellulase effective in deinking and the effective addition level of the cellulase can be appropriately determined. By proposing pulp-swelling activity (PSA) that elevates the water-retention value of pulp after pulp is reacted with cellulase, it becomes possible to select an enzyme that is effective in cellulase-deinking treatment without lowering the paper strength and to determine the effective enzyme dosage. Namely, a method of deinking waste paper is provided wherein the selection of an effective cellulase and the optimization of the enzyme dosage with the use of PSA as an indication make it possible to minimize the cellulase addition level and lessen the amount of the deinking agent.

Method of deinking waste paper using cellulase without lowering paper strength and method of evaluating the same

A process for producing crystal 1-kestose wherein granular crystal 1-kestose in the form of large crystals can be produced at a high yield is disclosed. A highly pure solution of 1-kestose is concentrated to a Brix of 75 or higher; either seed crystals are added, or the solution is vacuum-concentrated to generate microcrystals for use as nuclei; then, a crystal growing step by vacuum-concentration and a microcrystal dissolving step for redissolving microcrystals which have formed in the concentrate are repeated at least twice each. Alternatively, a highly pure solution of 1-kestose is concentrated to a Brix of 80 or higher; either seed crystals are added, or the solution is allowed to initiate crystallization; after crystals are allowed to grow, a cooling step where the temperature is lowered by 5&deg; C. to 20&deg; C. from the previous step and a crystal growing step where the concentrate is maintained at the temperature to allow the crystals to grow are repeated at least twice each. Also, an enzyme for producing 1-kestose efficiently from sucrose is disclosed.

Crystalline 1-kestose and process for preparing the same

A novel &bgr;-fructofuranosidase gene and a &bgr;-fructofuranosidase encoded by the gene, a process for isolating a &bgr;-fructofuranosidase gene using the novel &bgr;-fructofuranosidase gene, and a novel &bgr;-fructofuranosidase obtained by this isolation process are disclosed. A novel mold fungus having no &bgr;-fructofuranosidase activity suitable for the production of &bgr;-fructofuranosidase, and a system for producing a recombinant &bgr;-fructofuranosidase using the novel mold fungus as a host is disclosed. Further, a &bgr;-fructofuranosidase variant which selectively and efficiently produces a specific fructooligosaccharide such as 1-kestose from sucrose is disclosed.

&bgr;-fructofuranosidase and its gene, method of isolating &bgr;-fructofuranosidase gene, system for producing &bgr;-fructofuranosidase, and &bgr;-fructofuranosidase variant

Growing community of inventors

Sakado, Japan

Hirofumi Nakamura