An object of the present invention is to provide a novel method for controlling enzyme productivity of a microorganism. A pulsed electric field is applied to a microorganism to control the enzyme productivity of the microorganism.

Disclosed is a method for producing ethanol, including: culturing yeast transformed so as to display an enzyme on the cell surface in a medium containing particles of lignocellulosic biomass, thereby producing ethanol, wherein the enzyme is an enzyme involved in hydrolysis of the lignocellulosic biomass. The present invention makes it possible to provide a method for producing ethanol by which a high ethanol yield can be achieved from lignocellulosic biomass with lower initial cell concentration and added enzyme amount.

The disclosure provides thermostable enzymes isolated from Caldicellulosiruptor bescii and fragments thereof useful for the degradation of cellulose and/or hemicellulose, including thermostable cellulases and hemicellulases. The disclosure further provides nucleic acids encoding the thermostable enzymes of the disclosure. The disclosure also provides methods for the conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose into fermentable sugars using thermostable enzymes of the disclosure. The disclosure also provides enzyme cocktails containing multiple enzymes disclosed herein. The enzymes can be used to release sugars present in cellulose or hemicellulose for subsequent fermentation to produce value-added products.

The present invention relates to engineered carbohydrate-active enzyme constructs that are useful for glycan polymers synthesis. The construct comprises a CD domain from a GH, wherein the domain is conjugated to CBM3a via a peptidic linker. The invention also relates to a method of improving glycan polymer synthesis by using engineered carbohydrate active enzymes comprising a CD domain and CBM3a.

The present invention provides nucleotide sequences of Macrophomina phaseolina (“M. phaseolina”) that encodes proteins/enzymes with cellulolytic activity, including a cellulase activity, a endoglucanase, a cellobiohydrolase, a β-glucosidase, a a-glucosidase, a xylanase, a mannanse, a β-xylosidase, a a-xylosidase, a galactosidase, an arabinofuranosidase, a a-fucosidases, a β-galactanase, an unsaturated β-glucuronyl hydrolase and/or oligomerase activity. Vectors, expression constructs and host cells comprising and/or consisting of the nucleotide sequences of the enzyme genes are also provided. The invention further provides methods for producing the enzymes and methods for modifying the enzymes in order to improve their desirable characteristics. The enzymes of the invention can be used in a variety of, but not limited to, pharmaceutical, agricultural, food and feed processing, biofuel, energy efficiency and industrial contexts. These enzymes are also useful for complete hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass into simple sugar that can then be fermented to liquid fuels and chemical feedstocks.

The present disclosure relates to isolated polypeptides having alpha-amylase activity, polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides, nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods of producing the polypeptides, and method of using polypeptides, including in ethanol production processes.

The present invention describes compositions and related methods and kits for treating a variety of inflammatory conditions and infections. The therapeutic compositions include certain hyaluronidases capable of generating hyaluronan disaccharides when combined with hyaluronan, and/or the hyaluronan disaccharides themselves, and/or inflammatory hyaluronidase inhibitors. The invention further discloses the use of hyaluronidase inhibitors to treat certain infections in an individual.

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having alpha-amylase activity, catalytic domains, carbohydrate binding domains and polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides, catalytic domains or carbohydrate binding domains. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods of producing and using the polypeptides, catalytic domains or carbohydrate binding domains.

The technical field of enzyme immobilization, and particularly, an organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflower and a preparation method thereof. The organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflower is a flower-like immobilized enzyme formed by self-assembly of a layered rare earth compound as an inorganic carrier and a biological enzyme as an organic component. The layered rare earth compound is Ln.sub.2(OH).sub.5NO.sub.3.nH.sub.2O, where Ln is one or more of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, or Y, and n=1.1-2.5. The biological enzyme is one or more of α-amylase, horseradish peroxidase, or laccase. A layered rare earth compound is used as the inorganic carrier for the organic biological enzyme to form the flower-like immobilized enzyme. The immobilized enzyme has better stability and higher catalytic performance when compared with a free enzyme.

The present invention relates to alpha-amylase variants of a parent alpha-amylase wherein said alpha-amylase variants have an improved wash performance as compared to said parent alpha-amylase. The invention also relates to compositions comprising the variants of the invention, uses of said variants and methods of producing said variants.