The present application relates to a variant Fc region comprising at least one modification relative to a wild-type human Fc region, where the modification selected from the group consisting of 434S, 252Y/428L, 252Y/434S, and 428L/434S, and the numbering is according to the EU index.

The invention discloses a method for improving the extracellular expression level of a foreign protein by means of phospholipase fusion expression. Four proteins, PLA.sub.2, MBP, CBD and SUMO, are used as a fusion tag to construct a fusion gene. Compared with an original protein MOH without any fusion tag, the extracellular expression level and enzymatic activity of all the four fusion proteins are increased to some degree. Among them, the fusion protein using PLA.sub.2 as the fusion tag has the highest expression level, which is 7.4 times higher than that of the original protein. Compared with other fusion tags, PLA.sub.2 has a low molecular weight and the fusion protein having PLA2 as the fusion tag has the highest expression level (up to 12 g.Math.L.sup.1 in a 7 L fermentation tank for high-density fermentation). It is shown that the secretory expression of a foreign protein can be effectively increased by using PLA.sub.2 as a fusion tag.

Provided are a novel promoter and a method of producing a target product using the same.

The present invention provides a method of preparing zearalenone hydrolase, including the step of culturing a yeast cell carrying a gene encoding a zearalenone hydrolase in a medium to express a protein of the zearalenone hydrolase, wherein the medium contains 20 to 25% molasses by weight. This method provides a new strategy to efficiently prepare zearalenone hydrolase at low expenses.

The present invention relates to methods for degrading or converting a cellulosic material, comprising: treating the cellulosic material with an enzyme composition in the presence of a polypeptide having catalase activity; and enzyme compositions used for degrading or converting a cellulosic material comprising one or more (e.g., several) enzymes having cellulolytic and/or hemicellulolytic activity and a polypeptide having catalase activity.

An isolated nucleic acid encoding an FX protein having a serine at position 79, a lysine at position 90, a leucine at position 136, an arginine at position 211, a serine at position 289, and a combination thereof is provided. Cells having a gene encoding a modified FX protein are provided, wherein the cells exhibit a reduced ability to fucosylate a glycoprotein at a first temperature, but exhibit the ability to fucosylate the glycoprotein at a second temperature. Methods and compositions for making glycoproteins with reduced fucosylation are provided.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing an expression vector encoding a well-tolerated and highly specific tailored recombinase, which tailored recombinase is capable of recombining asymmetric target sequences within the long terminal repeat (LTR) of proviral DNA of a plurality of retrovirus strains which may be inserted into the genome of a host cell, as well as to the obtained expression vector, cells transfected with these, expressed recombinase and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the expression vector, cells and/or recombinase. Pharmaceutical compositions are useful, e.g., in treatment and/or prevention of retrovirus infection, in particular, HIV infection. In particular, the invention relates to well-tolerated and highly specific tailored recombinases capable of combining asymmetric target sequences in a more than 90% of HIV-strains, thereby excising the HIV-1 sequences, and expression vectors encoding them.

A bacteria referred to here as Bacillus subtilis 6A-1 is provided, compositions thereof and processes for use of the bacteria, spores, cells, extracts and enzymes. The compositions which comprise the bacteria, spores, cells, extracts and/or enzymes are capable of degrading polysaccharides. Such compositions are capable of degrading cellulose, including plant-produced cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose. The bacteria produces at least two cellulose-degrading protein fractions. Cellulose degrading activity continues across pH2 to pH13.

Methods and reagents for the installation of click chemistry handles on target proteins are provided, as well as modified proteins comprising click chemistry handles. Further, chimeric proteins, for example, bi-specific antibodies, that comprise two proteins conjugated via click chemistry, as well as methods for their generation and use are disclosed herein.

The present invention relates to compositions involving randomized in-frame fusion polynucleotides and their introduction into a host organism to identify desirable phenotypic changes. The present invention further relates to methods of generating these randomized in-frame fusion polynucleotides by introducing randomized in-frame fusion polynucleotides into an organism, selecting for organisms with new or altered phenotypes, re-isolating the randomized in-frame fusion polynucleotides from the selected organisms, re-assembling the constituent polynucleotides of the re-isolated randomized in-frame fusion polynucleotides into new collections of randomized in-frame fusion polynucleotides, and repeating the selection for organisms with new or altered phenotypes.