Ajinomoto Co., Ltd.

Yasuhiro Mihara

Yasuhisa Asano

Hideaki Yamada

Takashi Utagawa

Tomoharu Motoyama

Shogo Nakano

Kenzo Yokozeki

Osamu Kurahashi

Hisashi Kawasaki

Tomoko Shimizu

Chihiro Tsuji

Yusuke Hagiwara

Sohei Ito

Satoshi Nakamura

Yoshihiro Usuda

Shunichi Suzuki

Masakazu Sugiyama

Masayuki Sugiki

Uno Tagami

Tomo Takagi

Rie Yakushijin

Kenichi Mori

Naoto Tonouchi

Kenichi Hashiguchi

Yasuko Jojima

Megumi Shimaoka

Kohki Ishikawa

Ei-ichiro Suzuki

Shunsuke Yamazaki

Nobuhisa Shimba

Keiko Gondoh

Maiko Mori

Tohru Kouda

Yuriko Tokura

Ryosuke Fudou

Sonoko Takeuchi

Fumito Oonishi

Rie Kozutsumi

Miwa Konishi

Shohei Kajimoto

Souhei Ito

The present invention provides a 2-OST mutant exhibiting a high activity. Specifically, the present invention provides a 2-O-sulfation enzyme mutant, having a substitution of a leucine residue at position 321 with a basic amino acid residue in any one amino acid sequence of: (a) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; (b) an amino acid sequence comprising one or several amino acid substitutions, deletions, insertions, or additions in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; (c) an amino acid sequence having 90% or more identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; (d) the amino acid sequence consisting of amino acid residues at positions 69 to 356 in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; (e) an amino acid sequence comprising one or several amino acid substitutions, deletions, insertions, or additions in the amino acid sequence consisting of amino acid residues at positions 69 to 356 in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; (f) an amino acid sequence having 90% or more identity to the amino acid sequence consisting of amino acid residues at positions 69 to 356 in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; and having a 2-O-sulfate transfer activity.

2-O-sulfation enzyme mutant and 3-O-sulfation enzyme mutant, and method for using same

The present invention provides a method for producing a heparosan compound having an isomerized hexuronic acid residue and a method for producing a heparan sulfate with improved C5-epimerization efficiency. Specifically, the present invention provides a method for producing a heparosan compound having an isomerized hexuronic acid residue, said method comprising producing the heparosan compound having the isomerized hexuronic acid residue from a heparosan compound in the presence of a protein selected from the group of consisting of the following (A) to (F): (A) a protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No:2; (B) a protein which comprises an amino acid sequence having 90% or more homology to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No:2 and has a D-glucuronyl C5-epimerase substituted, added or inserted amino acid residues in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No:2 and has a D-glucuronyl C5-epimerase activity; (D) a protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5; (E) a protein which comprises an amino acid sequence having 90% or more homology to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No:5 and has a D-glucuronyl C5-epimerase activity; and (F) a protein which comprises an amino acid sequence having one or several deleted, substituted, added or inserted amino acid residues in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No:5 and has a D-glucuronyl C5-epimerase activity.

Method for producing heparosan compound having isomerized hexuronic acid residue

Hemicellulase that degrades corn non-starch polysaccharides ('NSP'), DNA encoding the same, and a method of using the hemicellulase and its DNA are provided. Proteins having hemicellulase activity such as Xyn5A, Xyn10B, Xyn11A, Xyn30A, and Xyn43A are described.

Hemicellulase compositions

Ligase mutants of the following (1), (2), or (3): (1) a ligase mutant comprising an amino acid sequence showing 95% or more identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, and having a nucleic acid-linking activity; (2) a ligase mutant comprising an amino acid sequence showing 90% or more identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, and having a nucleic acid-linking activity; or (3) a ligase mutant comprising an amino acid sequence showing 97% or more identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3, and having a nucleic acid-linking activity, have excellent properties.

Ligase mutant

The present invention provides a novel sulfated polysaccharide having anticoagulant activity. Specifically, the present invention provides a polysaccharide that includes a repetitive structure of a disaccharide unit composed of a hexuronic acid (HexA) residue and a &#x3b1;-D-glucosamine (GlcN) residue and having 13% or higher of a 3-O-sulfation rate in GlcN residues.

Heparan sulfate having high 3-O-sulfation rate in glucosamine residues

The present invention provides methods for producing 1,5-pentamethylenediamine ('1,5-PD') efficiently in a manner suitable for an actual production. Specifically, the present invention provides a method of producing 1,5-pentamethylenediamine including allowing a lysine decarboxylase mutant to act on L-lysine and/or a salt thereof, wherein said lysine decarboxylase mutant has an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of:

Method of producing 1,5-pentadiamine using lysine decarboxylase mutant having improved thermal stability

There is provided a mutant nucleoside-5'-phosphate producing enzyme with improved nucleoside-5&#x2032;-phosphate producing ability of a nucleoside-5&#x2032;-phosphate producing enzyme that has transphosphorylation activity and/or phosphatase activity and has one Lys residue, two Arg residues and two His residues with distances between their C&#x3b1;'s within a particular ranges and a space around them allowing a binding of a nucleoside, of which mutation is designed by using the crystal structure of EB-AP.

Variant nucleoside-5'-phosphate producing enzyme

A protein which has a GMP synthetase activity, a DNA which codes for the protein and a transformant which is introduced with the DNA in a form that allows expression of the protein encoded by the DNA.

GMP synthetase and gene coding for the same

A method for producing nucleoside-5&prime;-phosphate esters inexpensively and in high yields by phosphorylating a nucleoside with a phosphate group donor using an acid phosphatase having an increased affinity for the nucleoside and/or an increased temperature stability at a pH of pH 3.0 to 5.5, to produce a nucleoside-5&prime;-phosphate ester. Mutant acid phosphatases having increased affinity for nucleosides and/or an enhanced temperature stability are also provided.

Method for producing nucleoside-5&prime;-phosphate ester

A method for producing xylitol by allowing a microorganism belonging to the or and having a D-arabitol dehydrogenase activity and a D-xylulose reductase (xylitol dehydrogenase) activity and an ability to convert D-arabitol to xylitol is acted on D-arabitol in a reaction mixture containing a carbon source to produce xylitol.

Process for preparing xylitol

According to the present invention, there are provided microorganisms having an ability to producing xylitol or D-xylulose by fermentation, and a method for producing xylitol or D-xylulose using the microorganisms. Osmophilic microorganisms were collected from soil, and the obtained microorganisms were searched for a bacterium having an ability to produce xylitol or D-xylulose from glucose. Xylitol or D-xylulose is produced by culturing an isolated bacterium in a suitable medium to accumulate xylitol or D-xylulose in the medium, and collecting xylitol or D-xylulose from the medium.

Microorganisms and method for producing xylitol or d-xylulose

Xylitol is produced by contacting D-arabitol with a microorganism that belongs to the genus Gluconobacter, Acetobacter, Achromobacter, Agrobacterium, Arthrobacter, Azotobacter, Brevibacterium, Corynebacterium, Erwinia, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, Nocardia, Planococcus, Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus, Morganella, Actinomadura, Actinomyces, or Streptomyces and is capable of converting D-arabitol to xylitol, and recovering xylitol thus produced.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Yasuhiro Mihara