The present invention provides engineered carboxyesterase enzymes having improved properties as compared to a naturally occurring wild-type carboxyesterase enzymes, as well as polynucleotides encoding the engineered carboxyesterase enzymes, host cells capable of expressing the engineered carboxyesterase enzymes, and methods of using the engineered carboxyesterase enzymes in amidation reactions.

The present invention relates to the fields of life sciences, micro-organisms and degradation of polyolefin polymers. Specifically, the invention relates to an isolated specific enzyme or a fragment thereof, wherein said enzyme or fragment is capable of degrading a polyolefin, and to a micro-organism or a host cell comprising the enzyme or a fragment thereof. Also, the present invention relates to a polynucleotide encoding the enzyme or fragment thereof, and to an expression vector or plasmid comprising the polynucleotide of the present invention. And still, the present invention relates to use of the enzyme, fragment, micro-organism, host cell, polynucleotide, expression vector or plasmid of the present invention for degrading a polyolefin: to a method of degrading a polyolefin with the specific enzyme or a fragment thereof: and to a method of producing the enzyme or fragment thereof of the present invention.

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.

Isolated and/or purified polypeptides and nucleic acid sequences encoding polypeptides from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius are provided. Further provided are methods of at least partially degrading, cleaving, or removing polysaccharides, lignocellulose, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, starch, chitin, polyhydroxybutyrate, heteroxylans, glycosides, xylan-, glucan-, galactan-, or mannan-decorating groups using isolated and/or purified polypeptides and nucleic acid sequences encoding polypeptides from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius.

This application discloses microorganisms and methods of producing GNAQ/GNA11 inhibitors and methods of making antibody drug conjugates of anti-PMEL17 antibodies or antigen binding fragments conjugated to a GNAQ/GNA11 inhibitor. The disclosure also relates to formulations comprising antibody drug conjugates of anti-PMEL 17 antibodies or antigen binding fragments conjugated to a GNAQ/GNA1 inhibitor and methods of treating or preventing cancer using the formulations.

Methods to reduce sticky and fluff induced rewinder breaks by reducing the adhesive character of adhesive materials, fluff and sticky contaminants in fibers are described. One method involves contacting the fibers with a composition containing at least one of each of a cellulase, a hemicellulase, a -glucosidase, a lipase, an esterase, a pectinase, a pectate lyase and a laccase for a sufficient time and in a sufficient amount to control the removal or controlling adhesive materials, fluff and sticky contaminants present in the fibers. Preferably, the fibers are recycled fibers originating from a variety of sources such as old corrugated containers, old newsprint, mixed office waste, and the like. Resulting paper products formed from the processed fibers are also described as well as methods to make them.

The present disclosure pertains to a compositions and combinations for simultaneous, separate or sequential use which comprises (a) an oncolytic vaccinia virus that expresses a cytokine and a carboxylesterase enzyme, and, preferably, (b) a cancer co-drug, and to their uses for the treatment of cancer.

The present disclosure relates to methods, cells, and compositions for producing a product of interest, e.g., a recombinant protein. In particular, the present disclosure provides improved mammalian cells expressing the product of interest, where the cells (e.g., Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells) have reduced or eliminated activity, e.g., expression, of certain host cell proteins, e.g., enzymes including, but not limited to, certain lipases, esterases, and/or hydrolases.

Suggested is an enzymatic process for preparing hydroxycinnamic acid amides comprising or consisting of the following steps: (i) providing at least one hydroxycinnamic acid ester (component a); (ii) providing at least one amine (component b); (iii) providing at least one source of Pyrobaculum calidifontis VA1 esterase (component c); (iv) providing an aqueous buffer (component d) (v) blending components (a) to (d) to form a reaction mixture; (vi) adjusting the pH to a value above 7; (vii) incubating the reaction mixture at a temperature ranging from about 25 to about 90? C. for preferably at least 5 minutes; and (viii) collecting the hydroxycinnamic acid amides thus obtained from the reaction mixture.

Disclosed are methods of synthesizing racemic 2-(difluoromethyl)-1-(alkoxycarbonyl)-cyclopropanecarboxylic acids and 2-(vinyl)-1-(alkoxycarbonyl)-cyclopropanecarboxylic acids and their salts, such as the dicyclohexylamine salt. Also disclosed are methods for preparing enantioenriched (1R,2R)-1-((tert-butoxycarbonyl)amino)-2-(difluoromethyl)cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and esters of the same. These compounds are useful intermediates in the synthesis of viral protease inhibitors.