Claims
- 1. A method for producing ascorbic acid or esters thereof in a microorganism, comprising culturing a microorganism having a genetic modification to increase the action of an enzyme selected from the group consisting of hexokinase, glucose phosphate isomerase, phosphomannose isomerase, phosphomannomutase, GDP-D-mannose pyrophosphorylase, GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase, GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase, L-galactose-1-P-phosphatase, L-galactose dehydrogenase, and L-galactono-γ-lactone dehydrogenase; and recovering said ascorbic acid or esters thereof.
- 2. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said genetic modification is a genetic modification to increase the action of an enzyme selected from the group consisting of GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase, GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase, L-galactose-1-P-phosphatase, L-galactose dehydrogenase, and L-galactono-γ-lactone dehydrogenase.
- 3. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said genetic modification is a genetic modification to increase the action of an epimerase that catalyzes conversion of GDP-D-mannose to GDP-L-galactose.
- 4. A method, as claimed in claim 3, wherein said genetic modification is a genetic modification to increase the action of GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase.
- 5. The method of claim 3, wherein said genetic modification comprises transformation of said microorganism with a recombinant nucleic acid molecule that expresses said epimerase.
- 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase has a tertiary structure that substantially conforms to the tertiary structure of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 7. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase has a structure having an average root mean square deviation of less than about 2.5 Å over at least about 25% of Cα positions of the tertiary structure of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 8. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase has a tertiary structure having an average root mean square deviation of less than about 1 Å over at least about 25% of Cα positions of the tertiary structure of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 9. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase comprises a substrate binding site having a tertiary structure that substantially conforms to the tertiary structure of the substrate binding site of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said substrate binding site has a tertiary structure with an average root mean square deviation of less than about 2.5 Å over at least about 25% of Cα positions of the tertiary structure of a substrate binding site of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 11. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase comprises a catalytic site having a tertiary structure that substantially conforms to the tertiary structure of the catalytic site of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 12. The method of claim 11, wherein said catalytic site has a tertiary structure with an average root mean square deviation of less than about 2.5 Å over at least about 25% of Cα positions of the tertiary structure of a catalytic site of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 13. The method of claim 11, wherein said catalytic site comprises the amino acid residues serine, tyrosine and lysine.
- 14. The method of claim 13, wherein tertiary structure positions of said amino acid residues serine, tyrosine and lysine substantially conform to tertiary structure positions of residues Ser107, Tyr136 and Lys140, respectively, as represented by atomic coordinates in Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 15. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase binds NADPH.
- 16. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase comprises an amino acid sequence that aligns with SEQ ID NO:11 using a CLUSTAL alignment program, wherein amino acid residues in said amino acid sequence align with 100% identity with at least about 50% of non-Xaa residues in SEQ ID NO:11.
- 17. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase comprises an amino acid sequence that aligns with SEQ ID NO:11 using a CLUSTAL alignment program, wherein amino acid residues in said amino acid sequence align with 100% identity with at least about 75% of non-Xaa residues in SEQ ID NO:11.
- 18. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase comprises an amino acid sequence that aligns with SEQ ID NO:11 using a CLUSTAL alignment program, wherein amino acid residues in said amino acid sequence align with 100% identity with at least about 90% of non-Xaa residues in SEQ ID NO:11.
- 19. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase comprises an amino acid sequence having at least 4 contiguous amino acid residues that are 100% identical to at least 4 contiguous amino acid residues of an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:8 and SEQ ID NO:10.
- 20. The method of claim 5, wherein said recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence comprising at least about 12 contiguous nucleotides having 100% identity with at least about 12 contiguous nucleotides of a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:7 and SEQ ID NO:9.
- 21. The method of claim 5, wherein said epimerase comprises an amino acid sequence having a motif: Gly-Xaa-Xaa-Gly-Xaa-Xaa-Gly.
- 22. The method of claim 5, wherein said recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence that is at least about 15% identical to a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:7 and SEQ ID NO:9, as determined using a Lipman-Pearson method with Lipman-Pearson standard default parameters.
- 23. The method of claim 5, wherein said recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence that is at least about 20% identical to a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID 5 NO:3, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:7 and SEQ ID NO:9, as determined using a Lipman-Pearson method with Lipman-Pearson standard default parameters.
- 24. The method of claim 5, wherein said recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence that is at least about 25% identical to a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID 5 NO:3, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:7 and SEQ ID NO:9, as determined using a Lipman-Pearson method with Lipman-Pearson standard default parameters.
- 25. The method of claim 5, wherein said recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence that hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase.
- 26. The method of claim 25, wherein said nucleic acid sequence encoding said GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 and SEQ ID NO:5.
- 27. The method of claim 25, wherein said GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6.
- 28. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism is selected from the group consisting of bacteria, fungi and microalgae.
- 29. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism is acid-tolerant.
- 30. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism is a bacterium.
- 31. A method, as claimed in claim 30, wherein said bacterium is selected from the group consisting of Azotobacter and Pseudomonas.
- 32. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism is a fungus.
- 33. A method, as claimed in claim 32, wherein said microorganism is a yeast.
- 34. A method, as claimed in claim 33, wherein said yeast is selected from the group consisting of Saccharomyces yeast.
- 35. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism is a microalga.
- 36. A method, as claimed in claim 35, wherein said microalga is selected from the group consisting of microalgae of the genera Prototheca and Chlorella.
- 37. A method, as claimed in claim 36, wherein said microalga is selected from the genus Prototheca.
- 38. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism further comprises a genetic modification to decrease the action of an enzyme having GDP-D-mannose as a substrate, other than GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase.
- 39. A method, as claimed in claim 38, wherein said genetic modification to decrease the action of an enzyme having GDP-D-mannose as a substrate, other than GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase is a genetic modification to decrease the action of GDP-D-mannose-dehydrogenase.
- 40. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism is acid-tolerant and said step of culturing is conducted at a pH of less than about 6.0.
- 41. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism is acid-tolerant and said step of culturing is conducted at a pH of less than about 5.5.
- 42. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microorganism is acid-tolerant and said step of culturing is conducted at a pH of less than about 5.0.
- 43. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of culturing is conducted in a fermentation medium that is magnesium (Mg) limited.
- 44. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of culturing is conducted in a fermentation medium that is Mg limited during a cell growth phase.
- 45. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of culturing is conducted in a fermentation medium that comprises less than about 0.5 g/L of Mg during a cell growth phase.
- 46. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of culturing is conducted in a fermentation medium that comprises less than about 0.2 g/L of Mg during a cell growth phase.
- 47. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of culturing is conducted in a fermentation medium that comprises less than about 0.1 g/L of Mg during a cell growth phase.
- 48. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of culturing is conducted in a fermentation medium that comprises a carbon source other than D-mannose.
- 49. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of culturing is conducted in a fermentation medium that comprises glucose as a carbon source.
- 50. A microorganism for producing ascorbic acid or esters thereof, wherein said microorganism has a genetic modification to increase the action of an enzyme selected from the group consisting of hexokinase, glucose phosphate isomerase, phosphomannose isomerase, phosphomannomutase, GDP-D-mannose pyrophosphorylase, GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase, GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase, L-galactose-1-P-phosphatase, L-galactose dehydrogenase, and L-galactono-γ-lactone dehydrogenase.
- 51. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 50, wherein said genetic modification is a genetic modification to increase the action of an enzyme selected from the group consisting of GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase, GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase, L-galactose-1-P-phosphatase, L-galactose dehydrogenase, and L-galactono-γ-lactone dehydrogenase.
- 52. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 50, wherein said genetic modification is a genetic modification to increase the action of GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase.
- 53. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 50, wherein said microorganism has been genetically modified to express a recombinant nucleic acid molecule encoding an epimerase that catalyzes conversion of GDP-D-mannose to GDP-L-galactose, wherein said epimerase has a tertiary structure having an average root mean square deviation of less than about 2.5 Å over at least about 25% of Ca positions of the tertiary structure of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 54. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 50, wherein said microorganism is selected from the group consisting of bacteria, fungi and microalgae.
- 55. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 50, wherein said microorganism is a bacterium.
- 56. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 55, wherein said bacterium is selected from the group consisting of Azotobacter and Pseudomonas.
- 57. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 50, wherein said microorganism is a fungus.
- 58. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 57, wherein said microorganism is a yeast.
- 59. A microorganism, as claimed in claim 58, wherein said yeast is selected from the group consisting of Saccharomyces yeast.
- 60. A plant for producing ascorbic acid or esters thereof, wherein said plant has a genetic modification to increase the action of an enzyme selected from the group consisting of hexokinase, glucose phosphate isomerase, phosphomannose isomerase, phosphomannomutase, GDP-D-mannose pyrophosphorylase, GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase, GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase, L-galactose-1-P-phosphatase, L-galactose dehydrogenase, and L-galactono-γ-lactone dehydrogenase.
- 61. A plant, as claimed in claim 60, wherein said genetic modification is a genetic modification to increase the action of an enzyme selected from the group consisting of GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase, GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase, L-galactose-1-P-phosphatase, L-galactose dehydrogenase, and L-galactono-γ-lactone dehydrogenase.
- 62. A plant, as claimed in claim 60, wherein said genetic modification is a genetic modification to increase the action of GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase.
- 63. A plant, as claimed in claim 60, wherein said plant has been genetically modified to express a recombinant nucleic acid molecule encoding an epimerase that catalyzes conversion of GDP-D-mannose to GDP-L-galactose, wherein said epimerase has a tertiary structure having an average root mean square deviation of less than about 2.5 Å over at least about 25% of Cα positions of the tertiary structure of a GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase represented by atomic coordinates having Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Accession Code 1bws.
- 64. A plant, as claimed in claim 60, wherein said plant further comprises a genetic modification to decrease the action of an enzyme having GDP-D-mannose as a substrate other than GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase.
- 65. A plant, as claimed in claim 60, wherein said genetic modification to decrease the action of an enzyme having GDP-D-mannose as a substrate other than GDP-D-mannose:GDP-L-galactose epimerase is a genetic modification to decrease the action of GDP-D-mannose-dehydrogenase.
- 66. A plant, as claimed in claim 60, wherein said plant is a microalga.
- 67. A plant, as claimed in claim 66, wherein said plant is selected from the group consisting of microalgae of the genera Prototheca and Chlorella.
- 68. A plant, as claimed in claim 66, wherein said microalga is selected from the genus Prototheca.
- 69. A plant, as claimed in claim 60, wherein said plant is a higher plant.
- 70. A plant, as claimed in claim 60, wherein said plant is a consumable higher plant.
- 71. A microorganism for producing ascorbic acid or esters thereof, wherein said microorganism has been genetically modified to express a recombinant nucleic acid molecule encoding an epimerase that catalyzes conversion of GDP-D-mannose to GDP-L-galactose, wherein said epimerase comprises an amino acid sequence that aligns with SEQ ID NO:11 using a CLUSTAL alignment program, wherein amino acid residues in said amino acid sequence align with 100% identity with at least about 50% of non-Xaa residues in SEQ ID NO:11.
- 72. A plant for producing ascorbic acid or esters thereof, wherein said plant has been genetically modified to express a recombinant nucleic acid molecule encoding an epimerase that catalyzes conversion of GDP-D-mannose to GDP-L-galactose, wherein said epimerase comprises an amino acid sequence that aligns with SEQ ID NO:11 using a CLUSTAL alignment program, wherein amino acid residues in said amino acid sequence align with 100% identity with at least about 50% of non-Xaa residues in SEQ ID NO:11.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/088,549, filed Jun. 8, 1998; from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/125,073, filed Mar. 17, 1999; and from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/125,054, filed Mar. 18, 1999. Each of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. Nos. 60/088,549, 60/125,073 and 60/125,054 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Provisional Applications (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60088549 |
Jun 1998 |
US |
|
60125073 |
Mar 1999 |
US |
|
60125054 |
Mar 1999 |
US |