Mercian Corporation

Sanraku Incorporated

Ikuo Kojima

Rokuro Okamoto

Hiroshi Tone

Naoto Kawamura

Akira Arisawa

Kazuhiko Okamura

Yasushi Okumura

A DNA fragment or a restriction enzyme-digested DNA fragment, the DNA fragment containing a gene, acyA, encoding a 3-acylation enzyme for macrolide antibiotics, characterized by being derived from a strain belonging to the genus Streptomyces, having a size of about 1.8 kb or about 3.2 kb, and having a DNA base sequence shown in a restriction enzyme map shown in FIG. 1(A) or FIG. 1(B), respectively, in the attached drawing. 3-Acylated macrolide antibiotics can be produced advantageously using macrolide antibiotics-producing bacteria transformed with vector plasmids having inserted therein the DNA fragment.

Genes encoding a 3-acylation enzyme for macrolide antibiotics

A DNA fragment containing acyB gene coding for an enzyme capable of acylating the 4'-position of a macrolide antibiotic, said DNA fragment being derived from a microorganism of the genus Streptomyces, having a size of about 3.1 kb and being characterized by the restriction endonuclease map shown in FIG. 1 , and a DNA restriction fragment resulting from digestion with a restriction endonuclease; a recombinant DNA plasmid containing this DNA fragment; a microorganism transformed with this recombinant plasmid; and a process for producing a 4'-acylated macrolide antibiotic by using the transformant.

DNA coding for enzyme capable of acylating the 4'-position of macrolide

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Kawasaki, Japan

Ikuo Kojima