The invention discloses an alcohol dehydrogenase mutant and use thereof. The alcohol dehydrogenase mutant of the present invention has high thermal stability and enables high catalytic efficiency and high conversion rate (i.e. space time yield) in the asymmetric reduction of prochiral diaryl ketones to produce chiral diaryl alcohols. Therefore, the alcohol dehydrogenase mutant of the present invention has extremely high prospect of application in the production of chiral diaryl alcohols, such as (S)-(4-chlorophenyl)-(pyridin-2-yl)-methanol, (R)-(4-chlorophenyl)-(pyridin-2-yl)-methanol.

A method and an apparatus are described for the generation of microparticles containing an immobilized functional component, where the following measures are proposed: spraying a liquid (32) containing a soluble alginate and a functional component consisting of molecules or nanoparticles to generate a stream (60) of droplets, directing the stream (60) of droplets onto a precipitation bath (16) and capturing the droplets therein by application of high voltage (14), precipitating the droplets in the precipitation bath (16) via a precipitation liquid (18) containing an alginate complexing agent, such that the droplets are solidified to form microparticles (10) containing the functional component and extracting the microparticles (10) from the precipitation bath (16).

Provided are a genus Gluconacetobacter microorganism having enhanced cellulose productivity, a method of producing cellulose using the same, and a method of producing the microorganism.

The present invention is to provide a preparation of variant recombinant whole cell biocatalysts, referred herein as “designer cells” having significantly enhanced carbonyl reductase activity for use in the efficient production of variant industrially important enantiomerically enriched alcohols. More specifically, the alcohol is optically pure ethyl (S)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate, which is useful as chiral building block and an intermediate for the production of hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors.

Disclosed are a phosphinothricin dehydrogenase mutant, a recombinant bacterium and a one-pot multi-enzyme synchronous directed evolution method. The phosphinothricin dehydrogenase mutant, with an amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID No.1, is obtained by mutating alanine at position 164 to glycine, arginine at position 205 to lysine, and threonine at position 332 to alanine in a phosphinothricin dehydrogenase derived from Pseudomonas fluorescens. The recombinant bacterium is obtained by introducing a gene encoding the phosphinothricin dehydrogenase mutant into a host cell. The host cell can also incorporate a gene encoding a glucose dehydrogenase or a gene encoding a formate dehydrogenase to undergo synchronous directed evolution to achieve double gene overexpression. The one-pot multi-enzyme synchronous directed evolution method of the present invention can screen recombinant bacteria with greatly improved activity. Compared with other catalysis processes such as the transaminase method, the method for preparing L-PPT of the present invention features relatively simple process, high conversion of raw materials of up to 100%, and high stereo selectivity.

The invention concerns a method and an apparatus for generation of micropartides containing an immobilized functional component, where the following measures are proposed: —spraying a liquid (32) containing a soluble alginate and a functional component consisting of molecules or nanoparticles to generate a stream (60) of droplets, —directing the stream (60) of droplets onto a precipitation bath (16) and capturing the droplets therein by application of high voltage (14), —precipitating the droplets in the precipitation bath (16) by means of a precipitation liquid (18) containing an alginate complexing agent, such that the droplets are solidified to form micropartides (10) containing the functional component and —extracting the micropartides (10) from the precipitation bath (16).

Disclosed are a gene mining method combining functional sequence and structure simulation, an NADH-preferring phosphinothricin dehydrogenase mutant and an application thereof. The gene mining method comprises the following steps: (1) analyzing a characteristic sequence which an NADH-type glutamate dehydrogenase should have; (2) searching a gene library based on the characteristic sequence; (3) performing clustering analysis and protein structure simulation on genes obtained by the searching; (4) selecting genes that feature high gene aggregation and a protein structure similar to that of the known phosphinothricin dehydrogenase as candidate genes. A wild-type phosphinothricin dehydrogenase with an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID No.2 derived from Lysinibacillus composti is obtained through the gene mining, and then mutated, and an NADH-preferring phosphinothricin dehydrogenase mutant is screened out, which has a mutation site selected from one of the following: (1) A144G-V375F-M91A; (2) A144G-V345A-M91A; (3) A144G. This mutant enzyme can be used for catalytic reaction with an inexpensive coenzyme NAD.

Described are modified nucleic acids encoding an imine reductase enzyme. Also described are modified imine reductase enzymes. In some embodiments, the imine reductase enzymes may be used to produce products and intermediates thereof, such as (S)-nicotine.

The present application provides engineered glucose dehydrogenase polypeptides having imine reductase activity, polynucleotides encoding the engineered polypeptides, host cells capable of expressing the engineered polypeptides, and methods of using these engineered polypeptides with a range of ketone and amine substrate compounds to prepare secondary and tertiary amine product compounds.

The invention discloses an alcohol dehydrogenase mutant and use thereof. The alcohol dehydrogenase mutant of the present invention has high thermal stability and enables high catalytic efficiency and high conversion rate (i.e. space time yield) in the asymmetric reduction of prochiral diaryl ketones to produce chiral diaryl alcohols. Therefore, the alcohol dehydrogenase mutant of the present invention has extremely high prospect of application in the production of chiral diaryl alcohols, such as (S)-(4-chlorophenyl)-(pyridin-2-yl)-methanol, (R)-(4-chlorophenyl)-(pyridin-2-yl)-methanol.