Isolated cellulolytic extreme thermophilic bacterial cells belonging to the genus Caldicellulosiruptor, mutants thereof, isolated strains, microbial cultures and microbial compositions. The novel bacteria are in particular suitable for the production of fermentation products such as lactic acid from any carbon source, not limited to cellulosic material but especially useful for converting cellulosic biomass like lignocellulosic biomass and/or starch containing biomass.

An object of the present disclosure is, at least, to provide an enzyme that dehydroxylates hydroxyl groups at predetermined positions of urolithins having hydroxyl groups at the predetermined positions, and the object can be solved by an enzyme having the following properties (1) and (2): (1) dehydroxylating a hydroxyl group at the 4-position of urolithins; and (2) in the presence of methyl viologen (MV), being activated by one or more components selected from the group consisting of: reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH); reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH); flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD); and flavin adenine mononucleotide (FMN).

Disclosed herein, are compositions comprising a consortium of Clostridia, and methods of treating obesity, metabolic syndrome, irritable bowel disease, as well as reducing weight gain and inhibiting lipid absorption in the small intestine by administering the compositions to a subject.

The present invention relates to a botulinum toxin preparation method capable of obtaining botulinum toxin in a high yield through a simplified process that does not include animal-derived ingredients. The botulinum toxin preparation method according to the present invention does not use any animal ingredients in the overall process, including the culturing of a Clostridium botulinum strain, thereby providing excellent safety, omits a separate nucleic acid removal step using an additive treatment when compared with a conventional isolation process, and performs processing using only ion exchange chromatography, and it was confirmed that the botulinum toxin can be isolated at a remarkably improved yield through a simplified process by using the same buffer and only adjusting the concentration and pH of the buffer, and thus the present invention is a very economical and efficient isolation method so that the botulinum toxin isolated thereby is expected to be effectively used in beauty and medicine fields.

Rapid, animal protein free, chromatographic processes and systems for obtaining high potency, high yield botulinum neurotoxin for research, therapeutic and cosmetic use.

The present invention relates to a novel mutant strain Clostridium thermocellum M2_15-C8 and a genetic modification process of said bacteria, wherein the mutant strain according to this invention can produce cellulase and xylanase more than the wild type. Moreover, the obtained enzymes can be used to digest the pretreated bagasse to further produce sugars effectively.

The invention provides a process for producing ammonia or ammonium from an organic material by fermenting a medium comprising organic material in the presence of a mixed bacterial population capable of ammonification, wherein the fermenting is under conditions, and for a sufficient period of time, to produce a fermentation product that comprises ammonia or ammonium. The organic material includes nitrogenous compounds suitable for conversion to ammonia or ammonium.

A system for modifying the genome of Clostridium strains is provided based on a modified endogenous CRISPR array. The application also describes Clostridium strains modified for enhanced butanol production wherein the modified strains are produced using the novel CRISPR-Cas system.

The invention provides compositions comprising one or more bacterial strains for treating or preventing sensory hypersensitivity.

[Problem to be Solved] Provided is a method for producing a non-petrochemical-derived conjugated diene polymer using an alcohol derived from a non-petrochemical raw material.

[Means to Solve the Problem] In the present invention, the method is characterized in that a non-petrochemical-derived conjugated diene polymer is produced using an alcohol derived from a non-petrochemical raw material having an iron content of 0.0001 mg/L to 2 mg/L.