Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited

Hiroyuki Asako

Koji Hagiya

Masatoshi Shimizu

Fumiyoshi Okazaki

Akiko Nakazono

Kenji Matsumura

Yosuke Nakamura

Takeshi Ishii

Eiji Nitta

Nobuya Itoh

Ryuhei Wakita

Yoshikazu Fukita

A computer of a microbial community analysis system includes an input unit configured to input a plurality of data groups including information indicating a nucleotide sequence of a gene of each of a plurality of microorganisms included in activated sludge in which a water treatment is performed; a similarity calculating unit configured to calculate a similarity between data groups on the basis of the nucleotide sequences included in the input data groups, and a coordinates calculating unit configured to calculate coordinates in a multidimensional space of each of the data groups on the basis of the calculated similarity.

Microbial flora analysis system, determination system, microbial flora analysis method, and determination method

A computer of a prediction-rule generating system includes an input unit configured to input time series data of an abundance proportion of microorganisms or nucleotide sequences included in activated sludge in which a water treatment is performed and water quality information indicating water quality after a water treatment associated with data at each time constituting the time series data, a principal component analyzing unit configured to perform principal component analysis on the input time series data and calculate principal component scores of data at each time constituting time series data, and a prediction rule generating unit configured to generate a prediction rule for predicting water quality after a water treatment from an abundance proportion of microorganisms or nucleotide sequences on the basis of the calculated principal component scores and the input water quality information indicating water quality after a water treatment.

Prediction-rule generating system, prediction system, prediction-rule generating method, and prediction method

A method for producing a microbiologic agent is described. The method includes a step of adding biomass containing a target compound-degrading microorganism and an inorganic microparticle carrier to a medium containing a target compound. The microorganisms included in the biomass are carried on the inorganic microparticles, and the medium is cultured while monitoring an abundance ratio of the target compound-degrading microorganism in microorganisms carried on the inorganic microparticle carrier. After the abundance ratio of the target compound-degrading microorganism reaches a predetermined value, the inorganic microparticle carrier carrying the target compound-degrading microorganism is collected to obtain the microbiologic agent.

Method for producing microbiologic agent, and microbiologic agent

Isolated oxidases, isolated polynucleotides encoding the oxidases, and methods of using the oxidases to produce &#x3b1;-oxocarboxylic acid compounds or L-&#x3b1;-amino acid compounds are described.

Method for producing L-&#x3b1;-amino acid compound

A polynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3; a protein having an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3; and a method for producing an L-&#x3b1;-amino acid compound are provided. The method includes a step (1) of reacting the protein described herein with an &#x3b1;-hydroxycarboxylic acid compound to obtain a corresponding &#x3b1;-oxocarboxylic acid compound; and a step of reacting a protein having the ability to aminate an &#x3b1;-oxocarboxylic acid compound and convert the same into a corresponding L-&#x3b1;-amino acid compound with the &#x3b1;-oxocarboxylic acid compound obtained in step (1) to obtain a corresponding L-&#x3b1;-amino acid compound.

Oxidase, polynucleotide that codes for same, and use thereof

The present invention relates to a protein which can asymmetrically reduce an ortho-substituted phenylglyoxalic acid compound to industrially advantageously produce an amide or ester compound of corresponding optically-active ortho-substituted mandelic acid, a DNA encoding the protein, a process for producing the protein from the DNA, and a process for asymmetrically reducing an ortho-substituted phenylglyoxalic acid compound to produce a corresponding optically-active ortho-substituted mandelic acid compound.

Reductase, gene thereof and method of using the same

The present invention relates to a protein which can asymmetrically reduce an ortho-substituted phenylglyoxalic acid compound to produce an amide or ester compound of corresponding optically-active ortho-substituted mandelic acid compound with a good optical yield, a DNA encoding the protein, a process for producing the protein from the DNA, and a process for asymmetrically reducing an ortho-substituted phenylglyoxalic acid compound to produce a corresponding optically-active ortho-substituted mandelic acid compound.

There is provided is a process for producing a sulfur-containing &#x3b1;-hydroxycarboxylic acid compound represented by the formula (2): wherein Rrepresents hydrogen, Calkyl, or Caryl, which comprises subjecting a sulfur-containing ketol represented by the formula (1): wherein Ris the same as defined above, to the action of microbial cells of a microorganism belonging to the genusorcapable of converting the ketol into a corresponding &#x3b1;-hydroxycarboxylic acid compound, or a treated material thereof, thereby producing the sulfur-containing &#x3b1;-hydroxycarboxylic acid without using a hydroxynitrile compound as a starting material.

Process for producing sulfur-containing hydroxycarboxylic acid

A process for producing a sulfur-containing &#x3b1;-hydroxycarboxylic acid compound, which comprises a step for reacting a sulfur-containing dihydroxy compound with a cell or a material from treated cell of a microorganism that has an ability to convert the sulfur-containing dihydroxy compound to a corresponding &#x3b1;-hydroxycarboxylic acid compound.

A method for producing 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butyric acid which comprises the following steps (A), (B) and (C):

Method for producing 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butyric acid

Provided are genes coding a protein having an ability of asymmetrically reducing a 2-oxo-4-phenylbutyrate to produce a (R)-2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutyrate advantageously from the industrial standpoint, the protein, and methods of producing a (R)-2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutyrate using them. Genes having a base sequence coding an amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:1, or a base sequence shown by a base sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:2.

Reductase gene and use thereof

There is provided a reductase characterized by

Modified reductase and its gene, and use thereof

There are disclosed a reductase having good heat stability, which resulted in decrease in reaction time and improvement of reaction efficiency. Specifically, disclosed is an enzyme having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 in which at least one of the amino acids of the positions 245 and 271 of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 is replaced with another amino acid(s); a polynucleotide having a nucleotide sequence that encodes the amino acid sequence of said reductase; a vector containing said polynucleotide; a transformant containing said polynucleotide or said vector, and the like.

Modified reductase and its gene

There are provided a polynucleotide sequence coding for an amino acid sequence capable of preferentially producing (S)-4-bromo-3-hydroxy-butanoate by asymmetrically reducing 4-bromo-3-oxobutanoate, A DNA construct having a promoter in operative linkage with the polynucleotide sequence, a recombinant vector containing the polynucleotide sequence, a transformant, a recombinant vector and the like.

Growing community of inventors

Toyonaka, Japan

Hiroyuki Asako