Kao Corporation

Tohru Kobayashi

Tsuyoshi Sato

Mitsuyoshi Okuda

Nobuyuki Sumitomo

Susumu Ito

Masafumi Nomura

Yasushi Takimura

Katsuhisa Saeki

Shuji Kawai

Mikio Takaiwa

Yoshifumi Izawa

Yoshihiro Hakamada

Jun Hitomi

Shigehito Adachi

Yasunao Wada

Tadashi Yoshimatsu

Yoko Watanabe

Kazuhiro Saito

Katsutoshi Ara

Eiichi Hoshino

Keiji Endo

Kazuaki Igarashi

Masaki Tsumadori

Kenzo Koike

Hiroshi Hagihara

Shitsuw Shikata

Yuji Hatada

Kazuhisa Sawada

Atsushi Tanaka

Shingo Koyama

Hiroshi Kodama

Atsushi Suzumatsu

Miyuki Kasai

Shitsu Shikata

Takaaki Uemura

Provided in the present invention is an alkaline protease wherein an amino acid residue at (a) position 65, (b) position 101, (c) position 163, (d) position 170, (e) position 171, (f) position 273, (g) position 320, (h) position 359 or (i) position 387 of SEQ. ID NO:1 or at a position corresponding thereto has been selected from the following amino acid residues: position (a): proline, position (b): asparagine, position (c): histidine, aspartic acid, phenylalanine, lysine, asparagine, serine, isoleucine, leucine, glutamine, threonine and valine, position (d): valine and leucine, position (e): alanine, glutamic acid, glycine and threonine, position (f): isoleucine, glycine and threonine, position (g): phenylalanine, valine, threonine, leucine, isoleucine and glycine, position (h): serine, leucine, valine, isoleucine and glutamine, position (i): alanine, lysine, glutamine, glutamic acid, arginine and histidine. The present invention makes it possible to efficiently produce and provide alkaline proteases having activity even in the presence of a highly concentrated fatty acid, and exhibiting excellent detergency for the removal of a complex stain containing protein, sebum and the like, and therefore being useful as an enzyme to be incorporated in a detergent.

Alkaline protease

The present invention provides an alkaline protease exhibiting high detergency and productivity, which is obtained by further enhancing the detergency of an alkaline protease effective against complex dirt and enhancing the specific activity.

An alkaline protease having an amino acid with one or more amino acid residues selected from among those located at (a) position 15, (b) position 16, (c) position 166, (d) position 167, (e) position 187, (f) position 346, and (g) position 405 of the amino acid sequence of SEQ No; 1, or at positions corresponding to these positions, are the following amino acid residues, respectively: (a): histidine, (b): threonine or glutamine, (c): glycine, (d): valine, (e): serine, (f): arginine, and (g); and a gene encoding the alkaline protease.

An alkaline protease having an amino acid with one or more amino acid residues selected from among those located at (a) position 63, (b) position 89, (c) position 120, (d) positions 63 and 187, (e) position 226, (f) position 296, (g) position 304 of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or at positions corresponding to these positions, are the following amino acid residues, respectively: (a): serine, (b): histidine, (c): arginine, (d): serine,(e): tyrosine, (f): valine, and (g): serine; and a gene encoding the alkaline protease.

An alkaline protease wherein an amino acid residue at (a) position 65, (b) position 101, (c) position 163, (d) position 17-0, (e) position 171, (f) position 273, (g) position 320, (h) position 359 or (i) position 387 of SEQ. ID NO: 2 or at a position corresponding thereto has been selected from the following amino acid residues: position (a): proline, position (b): asparagine, position (e): histidine, aspartic acid, phenylalanine, lysine, asparagine, seine, isoleucine, leucine, glutamine, threonine and valine, position (d): valine and leucine, position (e): alanine, glutamic acid, glycine and threonine, position (K): isoleucine, glycine and threonine, position (g): phenylalanine, valine, threonine, leucine, isoleucine and glycine, position (h): seine, leucine, valine, isoleucine and glutamine, position (i): alanine, lysine, glutamine, glutamic acid, arginine and histidine. A method to an alkaline protease having activity even in the presence of a highly concentrated fatty acid, and exhibiting excellent detergency for the removal of a complex stain containing protein, sebum and the like, and therefore useful as an ingredient in a detergent.

The present invention relates to genes expressing an alkaline protease having a prepro sequence, vectors containing the same, and transformants containing said vector. The present invention also relates to a method for producing an alkaline protease.

Nucleic acid sequences encoding modified prepro peptides of an alkaline protease

The present invention relates to an alkaline protease having a prepro sequence, wherein the prepro sequence is a mutant sequence of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or an amino acid sequence having 80% or higher homology to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, in which amino acid residues at (a) position 52, (b) position 75, and (c) position 142 of SEQ ID NO: 1, or amino acid residues at positions corresponding to these positions are substituted by the following amino acid residues: According to the present invention, an alkaline protease increased in production can be produced. In particular, there can be efficiently produced an alkaline protease having an activity even in the presence of a fatty acid of high concentration and exhibiting excellent detergency against complex soils containing proteins and sebum.

The present invention relates to alkaline cellulase variants having an amino acid sequence which exhibits at least 95% homology with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein said alkaline cellulase variant is mutated to include at least one substitution at (a) position 10, (b) position 16, (c) position 22, (d) position 33, (e) position 39, (f) position 76, (g) position 109, (h) position 242, (i) position 263, (j) position 308, (k) position 462, (l) position 466, (m) position 468, (n) position 552, (o) position 564, or (p) position 608 in SEQ ID NO: 2, or at a position corresponding thereto, wherein said alkaline cellulase variant has alkaline cellulase activity. The present invention also relates to a gene encoding the variant; a vector containing the gene; a transformant containing the vector; and a detergent composition containing the alkaline cellulase variant.

Alkaline cellulase variants

Detergent compositions containing protopectinase whose optimum pH for the reaction is 7.0 or higher when protopectin or polygalacturonic acid is used as a substrate. The detergent compositions are endowed with remarkable detergency against mud soil.

Detergent composition

Liquefying alkaline .alpha.-amylase, process for producing the same, and

The present invention relates to a novel enzyme called alkaline proteinase K-16 that is characterized as having an optimum pH in an alkaline range, and stability in the presence of various surface active agents, such as sodium linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, sodium polyoxyethylene alkyl sulfate, sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium .alpha.-olefin sulfonate, sodium alkyl sulfonate, and .alpha.-sulfo-fatty acid ester. The present invention further provides for the microorganism Bacillus sp. Ferm BP-3376, which is capable of producing the novel alkaline proteinase, and a process for producing the novel alkaline proteinase. Alkaline-proteinase K-16 of the present invention exhibits an excellent action against insoluble proteins and maintains sufficient activity over a wide temperature range and in the presence of surface active agents thus providing a use as an enzyme for detergents.

Bacillus SP. ferm BP-3376 and a method for its use to produce an

The present invention relates to a novel enzyme called alkaline proteinase K-16 that is characterized as having an optimum pH in an alkaline range, and stability in the presence of various surface active agents, such as sodium linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, sodium polyoxyethylene alkyl sulfate, sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium .alpha.-olefin sulfonate, sodium alkyl sulfonate, and .alpha.-sulfo-fatty acid ester. The present invention further provides for a microorganism producing the novel alkaline proteinase, and a process for producing the novel alkaline proteinase. Alkaline proteinase K-16 of the present invention exhibits an excellent action against insoluble proteins and maintains sufficient activity over a wide temperature range and in the presence of surface active agents thus providing a use as an enzyme for detergents.

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Tochigi, Japan

Tohru Kobayashi