Carbonyl reductase, method for producing said enzyme, DNA encoding said enzyme, and method for producing alcohol using said enzyme

A method for producing an alcohol, the method comprising (a) contacting a ketone with a carbonyl reductase, an isolated microorganism expressing the carbonyl reductase, or an extract of the said isolated microorganism, such that an alcohol is produced from the ketone;

• and (b) confirming that the alcohol is produced, wherein the carbonyl reductase is selected from the group consisting of:
• i) a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:2 containing up to 30 conservative amino acid substitutions and having the following enzymatic activities:
• reduces 4-haloacetoacetate ester to produce (S)-4-halo-3-hydroxybutyrate ester using reduced β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as an electron donor;
• has high reductase activity to 4-chloroacetoacetate ester but does not substantially dehydrogenate any optical isomers of 4-halo-3-hydroxy-butyrate ester;
• and
• shows higher enzymatic activity when used with reduced β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as an electron donor than reduced β-nicotinamide phosphate, and
• ii) a polypeptide (a) encoded by a nucleic acid that hybridizes with a nucleic acid consisting of a nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1 under stringent conditions, and (b) having the following enzymatic activities:
• reduces 4-haloacetoacetate ester to produce (S)-4-halo-3-hydroxybutyrate ester using reduced β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as an electron donor;
• has high reductase activity for 4-chloroacetoacetate ester but does not substantially dehydrogenate any optical isomers of 4-halo-3-hydroxybutyrate ester;
• and
• shows higher enzymatic activity when used with reduced β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as an electron donor than reduced β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate.