National Science Council

Food Industry Research and Development Institute

Wen-Hwei Hsu

Wen-Shen Chu

Chao-Hung Kao

Yun-Huey Lee

The invention discloses a novel thermostable D-hydantoinase, and relates to the nucleic acid sequence, amino acid sequence and vector constructs of the enzyme. The thermostable D-hydantoinase of the invention shows about 45%-70% identity in amino acid sequence with other D-hydantoinases. The thermostable D-hydantoinase of the invention converts 5&prime;-substituted D-hydantoinase to the corresponding N-carbamoyl-D- and/or -L-&agr;/&bgr;-amino acids, and retains at least 50% activity after 30 days at 50&deg; C. In addition, the enzyme activity can also enhanced by certain divalent cations.

Thermostable D-hydantoinase and the application thereof

A method of converting cephalosporin C to glutaryl-7-aminocephalosporanic acid. The method including obtaining a cell preparation from a microorganism which produces D-amino acid oxidase, the preparation being a cell-free extract or a suspension of permeated cells; adding a D-.alpha.-amino acid to the preparation; after the adding step, heating the preparation at 50.degree.-75.degree. C. for 5-60 minutes; and incubating cephalosporin C in the preparation. Also disclosed are a method of converting cephalosporin C to glutaryl-7-aminocephalosporanic acid in the absence of exogenous H.sub.2 O.sub.2, and a method of screening for a D-amino acid oxidase-producing microorganism.

Growing community of inventors

Taichung, Taiwan

Wen-Hwei Hsu