Kaneka Corporation

National Research and Development Agency National Agriculture and Food Research Organization

Shingo Kobayashi

Naoaki Taoka

Keiji Matsumoto

Tetsuya Minami

Shunsuke Sato

Hisashi Arikawa

Rina Aoki

Shinichi Yoshida

Takahiko Sugaya

Tetsuya Fujiki

Takafumi Igari

Wanying Lee

Hitoshi Nakamura

Koichi Suzaki

Hitoshi Sashiwa

Provided is a mutant polyhydroxyalkanoate synthetase having an amino acid sequence which has 85% or more sequence identity with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and which contains a mutation of substitution of at least one of the amino acids at the 27th to 33rd, 39th, 56th, 106th, 129th, 144th, 165th, 170th and 172nd to 187th positions from the N-terminus of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 with another amino acid.

Mutant polyhydroxyalkanoate synthetase, gene and transformant thereof, and method for producing polyhydroxyalkanoate

A free fatty acid-containing substance, which is a waste liquid or by-product obtained in a process for producing palm oil or which is a hydrolysate of the waste liquid or by-product, is subjected to distillation treatment to obtain a free fatty acid fraction satisfying the requirements (i), (ii) and (iii), and a polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing microorganism is cultured in a culture solution containing the free fatty acid fraction. (i) The content of squalene is 0.05 wt % or less. (ii) The ratio of a peak area of trimethylindene to a peak area of a naphthalene-d8 standard is 110 or less in first-dimensional dynamic headspace-GC/TOFMS analysis. (iii) The ratio of a peak area of butyric acid to a peak area of a naphthalene-d8 standard is less than 10 in first-dimensional dynamic headspace-GC/TOFMS analysis.

Method for producing polyhydroxyalkanoate

A PHA copolymer which is slowly crystallized is improved in crystallization speed to improve the melt workability of the PHA copolymer in working such as injection molding, film molding, blow molding, fiber spinning, extrusion foaming or bead foaming, thereby improving the resultant articles in productivity. A method for the improvement is a method for producing a PHA mixture, including the step of culturing a microorganism having both of a gene encoding a PHA synthase that synthesizes a copolymer PHA (A) and that is derived from the genus, and a gene encoding a PHA synthase that synthesizes a PHA (B) different in melting point from the copolymer PHA (A) by 10&#xb0; C. or more to produce, in a cell of the microorganism, two or more PHAs different in melting point from one another by 10&#xb0; C. or more simultaneously.

Microorganism having multiple genes encoding PHA synthase and method for producing PHA using same

Provided is a mutant PHA synthase which produces of a PHA copolymer with a high or low 3HH ratio while maintaining PHA productivity. The mutant PHA synthase is a mutant polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase having an amino acid sequence having 85% or more sequence identity with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and having at least one of the following mutations (a) to (c): (a) a substitution of serine at 389th position from N-terminus of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 with an amino acid other than serine; (b) a substitution of leucine at 436th position from the N-terminus of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 with an amino acid other than leucine; and (c) a deletion of 11 to 19 amino acid residues from the C-terminus of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.

Mutant polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase, gene thereof and transformant, and method for producing polyhydroxyalkanoate

Disclosed herein is a soil-borne disease control method capable of simply suppressing a soil-borne pathogen. The method for controlling a soil-borne disease includes applying at least one polyhydroxyalkanoic acid having a structure represented by the following formula (1) to soil:[&#x2014;CHR&#x2014;CH&#x2014;CO&#x2014;O&#x2014;]&#x2003;&#x2003;(1)(wherein R is an alkyl group represented by CHand n is an integer of 1 or more but 15 or less).

Soil-borne disease control method, soil for plant cultivation use, and soil-borne disease control agent

An object of the invention is to improve the crystallization speed of a PHA copolymer which is to be slowly crystallized, and improve the melt workability and productivity. A microorganism is used which has genes encoding two or more different PHA synthases derived from the genus. The genes encoding the PHA synthases derived from the genuspreferably include genes encoding at least two PHA synthases which are capable of synthesizing a copolymer PHA including, as monomer unit species, 3-hydroxybutyric acid and 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid, and which are different in substrate specificity toward 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid from each other. When this microorganism is cultured, a PHA mixture can be produced which includes three or more PHA species different in melting point from each other.

Microorganism having PHA synthase-coding genes and method for producing PHA using same

A PHA copolymer which is slowly crystallized is improved in crystallization speed to improve the melt workability of the PHA copolymer in working such as injection molding, film molding, blow molding, fiber spinning, extrusion foaming or bead foaming, thereby improving the resultant articles in productivity. A method for the improvement is a method for producing a PHA mixture, including the step of culturing a microorganism having both of a gene encoding a PHA synthase that synthesizes a copolymer PHA (A) and that is derived from the genusand a gene encoding a PHA synthase that synthesizes a PHA (B) different in melting point from the copolymer PHA (A) by 10&#xb0; C. or more to produce, in a cell of the microorganism, two or more PHAs different in melting point from one another by 10&#xb0; C. or more simultaneously.

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Takasago, Japan

Shingo Kobayashi