Kaneka Corporation

Tokyo University of Agriculture

Shunsuke Sato

Hisashi Arikawa

Keiji Matsumoto

Naoaki Taoka

Shingo Kobayashi

Rina Aoki

Tetsuya Fujiki

Yoshihiro Mouri

Nobuo Nakamura

Shinichi Yoshida

Tetsuo Okura

Tomoaki Hashiguchi

Yuta Katsuta

Asuka Fukutome

Seiichi Taguchi

Tomonobu Takemura

Hiroka Murakami

Provided is a transformed microorganism that has a polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase gene and in which expression of a minD gene is enhanced. Also provided is a transformed microorganism that has a polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase gene and in which expression of a minC gene and a minD gene is enhanced. In this transformed microorganism, expression of a minE gene may be enhanced or reduced. Also provided is a method of producing a PHA, the method including the step of culturing any of the transformed microorganisms in the presence of a carbon source.

Transformed microorganism and method of producing polyhydroxyalkanoate

Provided is a transformed microorganism that has a polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase gene and in which expression of an A1386 gene and/or an A2405 gene is reduced. In the transformed microorganism, expression of a minC gene and a minD gene may be enhanced. Also provided is a method of producing a PHA, the method including the step of culturing the transformed microorganism in the presence of a carbon source.

Transformed microorganism and method of producing polyhydroxyalkanoate using the microorganism

A polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing microorganism is cultured to obtain microbial bodies accumulating polyhydroxyalkanoate particles and having an average cell size of 2 μm or more. The microbial bodies are subjected to a heat treatment at a temperature higher than a temperature in the culturing to increase an average particle size of the polyhydroxyalkanoate particles in the microbial bodies. The resulting average particle size is equal to or greater than 1.8 μm and equal to or smaller than the average cell size. The microbial bodies subjected to the heat treatment can be disrupted to obtain a cell disruption solution. The PHA particles can be separated from an aqueous phase of the cell disruption solution.

Method of producing polyhydroxyalkanoate

A method for producing a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) resin-containing composition for melt processing includes: heating a material containing a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) resin to a temperature equal to or higher than a melting point peak temperature in differential scanning calorimetry analysis of the poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) resin and equal to or lower than a melting point peak end temperature in the differential scanning calorimetry analysis of the poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) resin, wherein the difference between the melting point peak temperature and the melting point peak end temperature of the poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) resin is 10° C. or more; and extruding the heated material to obtain a composition for melt processing that has a new crystallization peak at a temperature higher than the melting point peak temperature.

Method for producing composition for melt processing

A method for producing an injection-molded body from a molding material containing a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) resin includes: melting the molding material by heating the molding material to a temperature between a melting point peak temperature and a melting point peak end temperature in differential scanning calorimetry analysis of the molding material, wherein the difference between the melting point peak temperature and the melting point peak end temperature of the molding material is from 10 to 70° C.; injecting the molten molding material into a mold having a temperature of 30 to 80° C.; and cooling the molding material in the mold to crystallize and solidify the molding material.

Method for producing injection-molded body

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

The present application provides: a transformed microorganism for producing a PHA copolymer containing 3HH monomer unit at a higher composition ratio, specifically, a transformed microorganism comprising a PHA synthase gene capable of synthesizing a PHA copolymer containing 3HH monomer unit and a gene encoding a protein having (R)-specific enoyl-CoA hydratase activity, characterized in that, in the transformed microorganism, the expression of a gene encoding at least one &#x3b2;-ketothiolase enzyme having thiolysis activity for &#x3b2;-keto-(C6) acyl-CoA (i.e., &#x3b2;-ketohexanoyl-CoA) is inhibited, thereby losing or reducing the enzyme activity; and a method for producing a PHA copolymer containing 3HH monomer unit, comprising a step of culturing the transformed microorganism.

Transformed microorganism for producing PHA copolymer comprising 3HH monomer unit at high composition rate and method for producing PHA using same

Provided are a PHA-producing microorganism producing a higher molecular weight PHA and a PHA production method using the PHA-producing microorganism. A PHA-producing microorganism including a gene encoding a PHA synthase derived from genus, in which at least a portion of a PHA degrading enzyme gene is altered by substitution, deletion, insertion, and/or addition to reduce or eliminate activity of a PHA degrading enzyme encoded by the gene, and further a glycerol kinase activity is enhanced.

PHA-producing microorganism in which glycerol kinase activity is enhanced, and PHA production method 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

Provided is a method for producing PHA by a microbe with improved productivity of PHA, and a PHA-producing microbe used for the production method. A method for producing polyhydroxyalkanoic acid, the method including a step of culturing a microbe having a polyhydroxyalkanoic acid synthase gene and an inactivated gene encoding a flagellar protein to cause the microbe to produce polyhydroxyalkanoic acid. In the microbe, a lipase, a dephosphorylating enzyme, and a protein represented by the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6 or 7 may be additionally inactivated. The microbe may be

Method for producing polyhydroxyalkanoic acid, and microbes

Using as a carbon source a long chain fatty acid which has not necessarily been efficaciously used in industry, culture of a microorganism and production of a substance by the microorganism are industrially efficiently carried out. A microorganism is cultured in the presence of a carbon source including anyone of the following compositions: (1) a fatty acid composition containing at least two fatty acids selected from the group consisting of lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid and oleic acid; and (2) a mixed composition containing at least one fatty acid selected from the group consisting of lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid and oleic acid, and a fat and oil, and having a content of the fatty acid of not less than 10% by weight.

Method for culturing microorganism, and process for producing substance with microorganism

An object of the present invention is to provide a microorganism strain that accumulates a high molecular weight PHA, and a PHA production method using the microorganism. The present invention provides a method for producing a PHA copolymer, which includes culturing a microorganism, wherein at least a portion of either of the following genes (a) and (b) of the microorganism has been altered by substitution, deletion, insertion, and/or addition to reduce or eliminate the activity of a PHA degrading enzyme encoded by the gene: (a) a PHA degrading enzyme gene encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 in the sequence listing; and (b) a gene encoding a polypeptide having at least 85% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 in the sequence listing and having PHA degrading enzyme activity.

High molecular weight PHA-producing microbe and method of producing high molecular weight PHA using same

This invention relates to a microorganism that produces a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) copolymer with a regulated monomer composition ratio and comprises a (R)-specific enoyl-CoA hydratase gene in the genome DNA, wherein a nucleotide sequence upstream of the (R)-specific enoyl-CoA hydratase gene comprises a modification consisting of a substitution(s), a deletion(s), an insertion(s), and/or an addition(s) of one or a plurality of nucleotides so that the expression of the (R)-specific enoyl-CoA hydratase gene is regulated, and to a method for producing a PHA copolymer using the microorganism.

Microorganism having regulated expression of (R)-specific enoyl-coa hydratase gene and method for producing polyhydroxyalkanoate copolymer using same

The present invention provides a microorganism that synthesizes a high-molecular-weight PHA, and a method for producing a high-molecular-weight PHA, which have a productivity of at least 100 g/L. The provision is achieved by controlling the specific activity of a PHA synthase in cells of a microorganism that belongs to the genusand is capable of producing a PHA, to 0.1 U/mg-protein at most. The microorganism and the method enable industrially efficient production of a PHA with a weight average molecular weight of at least 4,000,000.

[object Object]

The object of the present invention is to develop a novel vector. Preferably, the object is to develop a novel vector which can be stably retained in bacteria of the genusorwithout any antibiotic-due selective pressure and has no transferability by conjugation. Another object is to provide a strain which can stably produce polyhydroxyalkanoate using the vector, and a method for producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate using the strain. The present invention provides a novel recombinant vector which contains an origin of DNA replication functioning in bacteria of the genusor. Particularly, the transformant, which is obtained by using a recombinant vector which contains the origin of DNA replication functioning in bacteria of the genusorand contains a region for a recombinant vector stabilization (par region) can make the vector to be stably retained in bacteria, and can efficiently produce a polyhydroxyalkanoate.

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Takasago, Japan

Shunsuke Sato