Truncated alternan sucrase coding nucleic acid molecules

A method of producing a protein having the enzymatic activity of an alternan sucrase, said method comprising:

• 1) transforming a host cell with
• a) a nucleic acid molecule whose sequence codes for a protein consisting of
• i) an amino acid sequence which starts in the region from amino acid position 1 to amino acid position 350 of SEQ ID NO 2 and which ends at amino acid position 1315 of SEQ ID NO 2;
• or
• ii) an amino acid sequence which has at least 95% identity with an amino acid sequence from i),
• wherein the nucleic acid molecule is obtainable from a nucleic acid molecule with a sequence shown in SEQ ID NO 1 or 3, or
• b) a vector or plasmid comprising the nucleic acid molecule of a),
• 2) culturing the host cell in culture medium, and
• 3) isolating the protein from the cultured cell and/or the culture medium.

A method of producing a protein having enzymatic activity of an alternan sucrase, said method comprising:

• 1) transforming a plant cell with
• a) a nucleic acid molecule whose sequence codes for a protein consisting of
• i) an amino acid sequence which starts in the region from amino acid position 1 to amino acid position 350 of SEQ ID NO 2 and which ends at amino acid 1315 of SEQ ID NO 2;
• or
• ii) an amino acid sequence which has at least 95% identity with an amino acid sequence from i),
• where the nucleic acid molecule is obtainable from a nucleic acid molecule with a sequence shown in SEQ ID NO 1 or 3, or
• b) a vector or plasmid comprising a nucleic acid molecule of a),
• 2) regenerating a plant from the plant cell obtained in step 1),
• 3) expressing the protein in the plant and subsequently extracting and isolating the protein.

A host cell comprising a heterologous nucleic acid molecule consisting of:

• a) a sequence from nucleotide position 118 up to and including nucleotide position 3945 of the nucleic acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO 1 or SEQ ID NO 3;
• b) a sequence which codes for a protein whose amino acid sequence has at least 95% identity with the sequence from amino acid position 40 up to and including amino acid position 1315 of SEQ ID NO 2, wherein said protein has the same number of amino acids as the protein with the sequence from the amino acid at position 40 up to and including to the amino acid at position 1315 of SEQ ID NO 2;
• c) a sequence that has at least 95% identity with the sequence of a), where said sequence has the same number of nucleotides as the sequence of a), and encodes the protein of b);
• d) a sequence that, as the result of the degeneracy of the genetic code, deviates from the sequence of the nucleic acid molecules of a), b), or c);
• or
• e) a sequence that is complementary to the full-length sequence of one of the nucleic acid molecules of a), b), c), or d), where the complementary sequence has the same number of nucleotides as the nucleic acid molecules of a), b), c), or d);
• wherein said nucleic acid molecule codes for a truncated protein lacking the C-terminal domain and having enzymatic activity of an alternan sucrase.