Kikkoman Corporation

Noda Institute for Scientific Research

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

National Institute of Technology and Evaluation

National Research Institute of Brewing

Kokkoman Corporation

Yasuji Koyama

Toshio Ichikawa

Kotaro Ito

Eiichi Nakano

Masaru Suzuki

Genryou Umitsuki

Kenichiro Matsushima

Masayuki Machida

Hiroki Tatsumi

Tsutomu Masuda

Mamoru Kikuchi

Keisuke Furukawa

Satoshi Fukuda

Hideko Otake

Kiyoshi Asai

Naoki Kajiyama

Tatsuo Horiuchi

Keietsu Abe

Takeharu Nakahara

Tetsuya Oguma

Katsuya Gomi

Motoaki Sano

Satoru Kuhara

Naotake Ogasawara

Yaichi Fukushima

Hideki Nagasaki

Tadashi Takahashi

Taishin Kin

Akira Hosoyama

Osamu Akita

Ryoichi Sakaue

Misao Sugishita

Hiroe Sato

Satoshi Kitao

Kimiharu Okada

Tomoyuki Minamihara

Ayumi Arai

Toshifumi Matsuda

Masahiro Ogawa

Ikuko Nishimura

Genshiro Kawai

Disclosed are: transcription regulatory factors capable of regulating the transcription or expression of genes for mannanases or cellulases, as mentioned below; and others. Specifically disclosed is a protein selected from the following proteins (a), (b) and (c): (a) a protein comprising the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO:2; (b) a protein which comprises an amino acid sequence produced by deleting, substituting or adding one or several amino acid residues (e.g., 1 to 5 amino acid residues) in the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO:2 and which is capable of regulating the transcription of genes for mannanases or cellulases; and (c) a protein which comprises an amino acid sequence having a 70% or higher sequence identity to the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO:2 and which is capable of regulating the transcription of genes for mannanases or cellulases, or a partial fragment of the protein. Also specifically disclosed are a gene encoding the protein, and others.

Transcription regulatory factors for mannanases or cellulases, and genes for the transcription regulatory factor

A completely novel glutaminase is provided: (a) a protein consisting of an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2, or (b) a protein consisting of an amino acid sequence derived from the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 by deletion, substitution or addition of one or more amino acids, and possessing glutaminase activity. This protein is a novel glutaminase possessing excellent thermostability and the like.

Thermostable glutaminase and thermostable glutaminase gene

Based on a principle that is different to that of a conventional enzymatic method, the present invention provides a novel method for assaying a glycated protein by a simple procedure, within a short period of time, and with high accuracy, and a reagent kit for assaying used in the method. The method for assaying a glycated protein in a sample is realized by treating a glycated protein-containing sample with protease to liberate a glycated peptide, preferably an &#x3b1;-glycated peptide, particularly preferably an &#x3b1;-glycated dipeptide, from a glycated protein, allowing an oxidase to react with the liberated glycated peptide, and determining the produced hydrogen peroxide.

Method for assaying glycated protein

Provided are a protein comprising the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 and having prolidase activities, a prolidase gene coding for the protein, a prolidase gene comprising the nucleotide sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1, recombinant DNA having the gene inserted into vector DNA, and a transformant or transductant comprising the recombinant DNA, and a method for producing prolidase using the transformant or transductant. The present invention can improve the prolidase through protein engineering. The present invention can be also used for improving microorganisms used in the production of enzymes for food processing and fermented foods.

Prolidase and its gene and method for producing prolidase

Glutaminase which comprises (a) a protein comprising an amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2, or (b) a protein which comprises an amino acid sequence having deletion, substitution, or addition of one or plurality of amino acids relative to the amino acid sequence (a), and has glutaminase activity. A glutaminase gene which encodes (a) a protein comprising an amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2, or (b) a protein which comprises an amino acid sequence having deletion, substitution, or addition of one or a plurality of amino acids relative to the amino acid sequence (a), and has glutaminase activity. The present invention enables glutaminase to be produced efficiently and thus greatly contributes to the relevant industries.

Glutaminase, glutaminase gene, novel recombinant DNA, and process for manufacturing glutaminase

There are disclosed a protein having an amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:2, or a protein having a glutaminase activity in which one or more amino acids is/are deleted from, substituted by, inserted to or added to the amino acid sequence of the above protein; a gene containing DNA encoding the above protein or a gene which hybridizes with the a complementary sequence of DNA of the above gene under a stringent condition and encodes a protein having a glutaminase activity; a recombinant DNA containing the above gene; a transformant or a transductant containing the above recombinant DNA; and a process for producing glutaminase which comprises culturing the above transformant or the above transductant and collecting glutaminase from a culture medium.

Protein having glutaminase activity and gene encoding the same

The present invention relates to a thermostable creatine amidinohydrolase having the following physicochemical properties: (a) hydrolyzing 1 mol of creatine to give 1 mol of sarcosine and 1 mol of urea; (b) having a substrate specificity to creatine; (c) having an optimum pH of 7.0 to 8.0; (d) having a stable pH range of 4.0 to 11.0; (e) having the optimum temperature of around 45&deg; C.; (f) being thermostable at 53&deg; C.; (g) having a molecular weight of 92,000 Da (as determined by gel filtration), and to a process for producing the thermostable creatine aimdinohydrolase.

Thermostable creatine amidinohydrolase and process for producing the same

The present invention provides a koji mold having increased protease activity and peptidase activity relative to a parent strain, a method of breeding the koji mold, and a method of manufacturing a flavor enhancer using the koji mold. More specifically, the present invention provides ( ) a koji mold having increased protease activity and peptidase activity relative to a parent strain obtained by transformation using a protease gene and a peptidase gene, ( ) a method of breeding the above koji mold which comprises transforming a parent strain of koji mold using a protease gene and a peptidase gene, and then selecting a transformant having higher protease activity and peptidase activity relative to a parent strain, and ( ) a method of manufacturing a flavor enhancer which comprises allowing a culture product of the above koji mold to act on a protein.

Multiply transformed koji mold and a method of manufacturing a flavor enhancer using the same

There are disclosed a protein having an amino acid sequence represented by amino acid numbers 1 to 684 or 49 to 684 shown in SEQ ID NO:2, or a protein having a glutaminase activity in which one or more amino acids is/are deleted from, substituted by, inserted to or added to the amino acid sequence of the above protein; a gene containing DNA encoding the above protein or a gene encoding a protein which hybridizes with the DNA of the above gene under a stringent condition and has a glutaminase activity; a recombinant DNA containing the above gene; a transformant or a transductant containing the above recombinant DNA; and a process for producing glutaminase which comprises culturing the above transformant or the above transductant and collecting glutaminase from a culture medium.

This invention relates to sarcosine oxidase having the following physico-chemical properties: (a) action: oxidatively hydrolyzing 1 mole sarcosine to give 1 mole glycine, 1 mole formaldehyde, and 1 mole hydrogen peroxide; (b) substrate specificity: specific for sarcosine; (c) optimum pH: 7.0-8.0; (d) stable pH range: 7.0-9.5; (e) suitable temperature range for action: 50&deg; C.; (f) thermostability: 55&deg; C. or less; and (g) molecular weight: 44,000 daltons (when estimated roughly from the amino acid sequence of the wild-type), and to a process for producing the sarcosine oxidase, comprising the steps of culturing a microorganism having an ability to produce the sarcosine oxidase and collecting the sarcosine oxidase from the culture are provided.

Sarcosine oxidase and process for producing the same

N-acetylmannosamine dehydrogenase gene derived from a microorganism belonging to the genus Flavobacterium, e.g., Flavobacterium sp. No. 141-8 strain and defined by a specific restriction enzyme map which encodes 271 amino acid sequence. Using the recombinant DNA, N-acetylmannosamine dehydrogenase can be produced in a simpler manner in an industrial scale. The enzyme is useful for quantitative determination of sialic acid.

N-acetylmannosamine dehydrogenase gene and novel recombinant DNA as well

The present invention relates to a creatine amidinohydrolase gene coding for the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 2, a recombinant DNA comprising the creatine amidinohydrolase gene inserted into a vector DNA, and a process for producing creatine amidinohydrolase by culturing a microorganism belonging to the genus Escherichia carrying said recombinant DNA and having the ability to produce creatine amidinohydrolase in medium and then recovering creatine amidinohydrolase from the culture. According to the present invention, creatine amidinohydrolase can be efficiently produced without adding creatine to medium.

Creatine amidinohydrolase gene, a novel recombinant DNA, and a process

The present invention relates to biotinated firefly luciferase comprising a biotinated peptide and firefly luciferase linked therein, biotinated firefly luciferase having a specific amino acid sequence, a biotinated firefly luciferase gene comprising a gene coding for a biotinated peptide and a firefly luciferase gene linked therein, a biotinated firefly luciferase gene comprising a biotinated peptide gene coding for a specific amino acid sequence and a firefly luciferase gene linked therein, a recombinant DNA comprising said biotinated firefly luciferase gene inserted into a vector DNA, a process for producing biotinated firefly luciferase comprising culturing a microorganism belonging to the genus Escherichia carrying said recombinant DNA and then recovering the resulting biotinated firefly luciferase from the culture, a bioluminescent analysis method comprising using said biotinated firefly luciferase, and a bioluminescent analysis method comprising quantifying a ligand by measuring a biotinated receptor by the use of said biotinated firefly luciferase. According to the present invention, there are provided biotinated firefly luciferase, a biotinated firefly luciferase gene, a recombinant DNA, a process for producing biotinated firefly luciferase and a bioluminescent analysis method. The present invention enables the efficient production of biotinated firefly luciferase of uniform properties with the uniform structure of firefly luciferase in which one biotin molecule has been bound to a specific residue and whose activity is hardly lost by biotination and not lost even binding to streptoavidin or avidin, and the biotinated firefly luciferase of constant properties obtained in the present invention permits highly sensitive measurements in bioluminescent analysis as compared with the conventional chemically modified biotinated firefly luciferase so that the present invention is industrially extremely useful.

Biotinated firefly luciferase, a gene for biotinated firefly luciferase,

The present invention relates to mutant uricase containing the amino acid sequence of wild-type uricase shown in SEQ ID NO:1 wherein the 165-170th amino acids contain a mutated amino acid sequence, a mutant uricase gene coding for said uricase, a recombinant DNA having said mutant uricase gene integrated into a vector DNA, and a process for producing mutant uricase by culturing a microorganism carrying said recombinant DNA and having the ability to produce mutant uricase in a medium, and then recovering mutant uricase from the culture. The present invention provides stable mutant uricase and the gene coding for said mutant uricase, and further the process of the present invention enables efficient production of stable uricase.

Mutant uricase, a mutant uricase gene, a novel recombinant DNA, and a

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Chiba, Japan

Yasuji Koyama