Arthrobacter D-carbamoylase and methods of preparing enantiomerically enriched D-amino acids

A method for the discovery of a chromosomally coded gene which codes for an enzyme which can participate in a process for the preparation of D-amino acids from 5′-substituted hydantoins, wherein

• a) chromosomal DNA of an organism which is capable of producing D-amino acids from 5′-substituted hydantoins is divided into fragments,
• b) these fragments are then cloned into a vector,
• c) the vector is hybridized with an oligonucleotide which contains the sequence information of a hydantoinase or a D-carbamoylase
• d) starting from the successful hydantoinase hybridization, D-carbamoylase nucleic acid sequences, or in the case of successful D-carbamoylase hybridization hydantoinase nucleic acid sequences, are identified in the same vector.