Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.

Reiko Abe

Tadashi Araki

Toshihiro Oikawa

Kiyoteru Nagahara

Hiroki Ishibashi

Kaori Matoishi

Yasushi Fukuiri

Yasuko Matsuba

Ichirou Ikeda

Daisuke Mochizuki

Hitoshi Takahashi

Hideki Sawai

Takashi Mimitsuka

Mitsufumi Wada

Takashi Morishige

Junko Tokuda

Hitoki Miyake

Yosuke Higashi

Miyuki Kawashima

Mitsufumi Wade

A method for producing D-lactic acid in high yield, and to provide a method for producing D-lactic acid with high selectivity, in which optical purity is high and a by-product organic acid is small. In one aspect, a microorganism, wherein activity of pyruvate formate-lyase (pfl) is inactivated or decreased, and further activity of-derived NADH-dependent D-lactate dehydrogenase (ldhA) is enhanced, is cultured to efficiently produce D-lactic acid. With regard to a method for enhancing ldhA activity, by linking, on a genome, a gene encoding ldhA with a promoter of a gene which controls expression of a protein involved in a glycolytic pathway, a nucleic acid biosynthesis pathway or an amino acid biosynthesis pathway, suitable results are obtained compared to the method for enhancing expression of the gene using an expression vector. A microorganism in which a dld gene is substantially inactivated or decreased is cultured to produce high quality D-lactic acid with reduced concentration of pyruvic acid.

Biocatalyst for production of D-lactic acid

The invention provides a method for producing a cytosine nucleoside compound from pentose-1-phosphate and cytosine or a derivative thereof using a nucleoside phosphorylase reactive to cytosine or a bacterium having the enzyme activity. The invention also provides a method for specifically reducing an activity to degrade the substrates or the product, resulting in efficient production of the cytosine nucleoside compound. According to the invention, little by-product is produced in producing cytonucleocide compounds.

Method for producing cytosine nucleoside compounds

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Chiba, Japan

Reiko Abe