The present invention provides an endoglucanase with excellent heat resistance.

An endoglucanase having characteristics (A) to (C) below: (A) a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence that is at least 80% identical to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; (B) the molecular weight of a polypeptide moiety being about 31 kDa; and (C) containing a sugar chain, and having a molecular weight measured by SDS-PAGE being about 39 kDa or more.

A method to produce protein in Aspergillus niger's sleeping spores using single-stranded RNA is provided. The method includes three steps: culture of Aspergillus niger and collection of spores, pretreatment of Aspergillus niger spores, and electroporation of Aspergillus niger spores using HDEN method. Non-germinated spores are used as a starting material for introduction of exogenous molecules. The exogenous protein coding single-stranded RNA is introduced into the resting spores of Aspergillus niger by employing the HDEN electrotransformation technique to express protein. This method is simple and fast, the effect is excellent, and the transformation rate reaches more than 90%.

A method for determining a level of one or more live microbes in a sample of a Cannabis plant includes (a) introducing a DNase enzyme into a sample including (i) Cannabis plant matrix derived from lysed cells of a Cannabis plant and (ii) live microbial cells including microbial genomic DNA, (b) introducing an anionic detergent into the sample, where the anionic detergent is in an amount effective to inactivate the DNase enzyme in the sample and lyse the live microbial cells in the sample, (c) introducing a known quantity of control DNA into the sample, (d) contacting the sample with a plurality of polynucleotide capture agents, (e) isolating the plurality of polynucleotide capture agents, thereby isolating polynucleotides from the microbial genomic DNA and/or control DNA in the sample, and (f) amplifying at least a portion of polynucleotides from the microbial genomic DNA isolated in step (e).

Fungi that are genetically inactivated for the mstC gene (or a homolog thereof) are provided, which can also be genetically modified to increase production of heterologous proteins from a glucoamylase promoter. Methods of using these fungi, for example to degrade a biomass, are also provided.

A technique to desalinate seawater using melanin-concentrated solar energy wherein the melanin is extracted from a local isolate Aspergillus niger. A device consists of two fixed upper and lower containers with same volume of seawater in both, with or without melanin powder dissolved in the lower container at rate of 0.17 gm of melanin powder per 10 ml of water. The device is put outdoors under direct sunlight during daytime, circular water droplets free of salt starts to appear on the external bottom of upper container. Water droplets are collected by a sterile glass rod, pH of droplets water is about 7.1. Yield of fresh water is approximately 10 ml droplets water from 600 ml seawater per hour; after 24 hours day and night incubation, seawater in the upper container dries out leaving salt crystals. Yield of 1000 m3 seawater is 100 m3 freshwater (1000 L seawater yield 100 L freshwater).

The present invention relates to a field of genetically modified fungal cells and converting galacturonic acid to meso-galactaric acid, more precisely to a method of producing meso-galactaric acid. The invention further relates to recombinant fungal cells having a specific combination of modifications including but not limited to expression of uronate dehydrogenase enzyme, reduced D-galacturonic acid reductase activity, and furthermore reduced meso-galactaric acid catabolism, as well as uses and methods related thereto.

The invention relates to an unspecific peroxygenase of the Agrocybe aegerita fungus, obtained by means of directed molecular evolution to facilitate the functional expression thereof in an active, soluble and stable form. The peroxygenase described in the invention shows a significant improvement in the functional expression thereof, improved monooxygenase activity and reduced peroxidase activity, in relation to the monooxygenase and peroxidase activities showed by the unspecific wild-type peroxygenase of A. aegerita. The peroxygenase of the invention is useful in chemical processes, including industrial transformations such as the selective oxyfunctionalisation of carbon-hydrogen bonds of various organic compounds.

The present invention provides a method for producing an alkaline phosphatase (ALP), the method including a step of: culturing an Aspergillus transformant capable of producing the ALP.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an organism having an ergothioneine productivity that is capable of easily producing ergothioneine within a short period of time at a high yield, as compared with a conventional technology, and, therefore, enables ergothioneine production on an industrial scale. This purpose can be achieved by a transformed fungus into which a gene encoding enzyme (1) or genes encoding enzymes (1) and (2) have been inserted and in which the inserted gene(s) are overexpressed. (1) an enzyme catalyzing a reaction of synthesizing hercynyl cysteine sulfoxide from histidine and cysteine in the presence of S-adenosyl methionine, iron (II) and oxygen. (2) An enzyme catalyzing a reaction of synthesizing ergothioneine from hercynyl cysteine sulfoxide using pyridoxal 5-phosphate as a coenzyme.

The present invention relates to a method of preparing an anthocyanin oligomer using a coenzyme derived from an Aspergillus sp. strain, and more particularly to a method of preparing an anthocyanin oligomer by fermenting an anthocyanin monomer with a coenzyme of Aspergillus niger, which is a kind of Aspergillus sp. strain. According to the present invention, in order to overcome contamination problems during the culturing process using Aspergillus niger, a coenzyme of Aspergillus niger is extracted and the fermentation process is performed using the same, whereby an anthocyanin oligomer characterized by reduced concern of contamination and superior radical-scavenging effects, compared to existing anthocyanin monomers, can be produced. Also, an anthocyanin oligomer, obtained through fermentation using glucosidase as an enzyme contained in the coenzyme, can exhibit excellent fermentation efficiency and radical-scavenging ability, and polymerization of the anthocyanin oligomer can be confirmed even upon the fermentation of the enzyme including glucosidase.