Variants of the bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase
OwnerWolfgang Aehle, Neelam S. Amininventors
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Abstract
Variants of B. licheniformis alpha-amylase advantageously exhibit improved enzymatic performance. Suitable variants include those with an altered charge distribution on the surface of the enzyme or with altered active site residues. Structural modeling can inform the choice of amino acid modifications so that modified amino acids correspond to residues found in more active alpha amylases, for example. Compositions comprising the variants are useful in methods of cleaning surfaces, laundering textiles, desizing, treating starch, e.g., liquefaction and saccharification, and hydrolyzing biofilms off various substrates.
Claims52
An isolated nucleic acid encoding a variant of SEQ ID NO:1, wherein the variant comprises at least one amino acid substitution, insertion, or deletion compared to SEQ ID NO:1, and wherein the encoded variant exhibits α-amylase activity.
A method of making a B. licheniformis α-amylase variant, comprising
- (1) comparing the structure of a wild-type B. licheniformis α-amylase to a model α-amylase that possesses at least one preferred property relative to said wild-type B. licheniformis α-amylase;
- (2) identifying at least one amino acid or structural region of the wild-type B. licheniformis α-amylase that is structurally conserved with the model α-amylase;
- (3) constructing a variant of the wild-type B. licheniformis α-amylase, which is modified in the amino acid residue or structural region identified in step (2) above;
- and
- (4) testing the variant to determine whether the at least one preferred property is conferred upon the variant,
- wherein the variant has at least one altered property compared to the wild-type B. licheniformis α-amylase.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.