Method for the synthesis of chiral cyanohydrins via a hydroxynitrile lyase from brassicaceae

A method for the synthesis of chiral cyanohydrins from at least one carbonyl compound and hydrocyanic acid comprising:

• providing said at least one carbonyl compound and said hydrocyanic acid and carrying out a reaction in the presence of at least one polypeptide, wherein said polypeptide has hydroxynitrile lyase activity and is expressed by a cell which contains an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding said polypeptide, wherein said isolated nucleic acid molecule comprises:
• a) a nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO:
• 1;
• b) SEQ ID NO:
• 2;
• c) a nucleotide sequence which comprises all of SEQ ID NO:
• 2 except for one or more codon replacements, wherein the codon replacements are selected from the group consisting of:
• (i) codon twelve is replaced with ACC, ACT, ACA, ACG, GCT, GCC, GCA or GCG;
• (ii) codon fourteen is replaced with TGT, TGC, GCT, GCC, GCA or GCG;
• (iii) codon one hundred and twenty-nine is replaced with TGG;
• and
• (iv) a combination of (i), (ii) and (iii);
• or
• d) a nucleotide sequence which has at least 90% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO:
• 2,
• and wherein the chiral cyanohydrins are synthesized.