Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12N—MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF; PROPAGATING, PRESERVING, OR MAINTAINING MICROORGANISMS; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; CULTURE MEDIA
  • C12N9/00—Enzymes; Proenzymes; Compositions thereof; Processes for preparing, activating, inhibiting, separating or purifying enzymes
  • C12N9/14—Hydrolases (3)
  • C12N9/48—Hydrolases (3) acting on peptide bonds (3.4)
  • C12N9/50—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25)
  • C12N9/52—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25) derived from bacteria or Archaea
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D3/00—Other compounding ingredients of detergent compositions covered in group C11D1/00
  • C11D3/16—Organic compounds
  • C11D3/38—Products with no well-defined composition, e.g. natural products
  • C11D3/386—Preparations containing enzymes, e.g. protease or amylase
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K2299/00—Coordinates from 3D structures of peptides, e.g. proteins or enzymes

Definitions

• the present invention provides novel serine proteases, novel genetic material encoding these enzymes, and proteolytic proteins obtained from Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp. and variant proteins developed therefrom.
• the present invention provides protease compositions obtained from a Cellulomonas spp, DNA encoding the protease, vectors comprising the DNA encoding the protease, host cells transformed with the vector DNA, and an enzyme produced by the host cells.
• the present invention also provides cleaning compositions (e.g., detergent compositions), animal feed compositions, and textile and leather processing compositions comprising protease(s) obtained from a Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp.
• cleaning compositions e.g., detergent compositions
• animal feed compositions e.g., animal feed compositions
• textile and leather processing compositions comprising protease(s) obtained from a Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp.
• mutant proteases derived from the wild-type proteases described herein. These mutant proteases also find use in numerous applications.
• Serine proteases are a subgroup of carbonyl hydrolases comprising a diverse class of enzymes having a wide range of specificities and biological functions (See e.g., Stroud, Sci. Amer., 131 :74-88). Despite their functional diversity, the catalytic machinery of serine proteases has been approached by at least two genetically distinct families of enzymes: 1 ) the subtilisins; and 2) the mammalian chymotrypsin-related and homologous bacterial serine proteases (e.g., trypsin and S. griseus trypsin). These two families of serine proteases show remarkably similar mechanisms of catalysis (See e.g., Kraut, Ann. Rev.
• subtilisins and chymotrypsin-related serine proteases both have a catalytic triad comprising aspartate, histidine and serine.
• subtilisin-related proteases the relative order of these amino acids, reading from the , amino to carboxy terminus, is aspartate-histidine-serine.
• the relative order is histidine-aspartate-serine.
• the present invention provides novel serine proteases, novel genetic material encoding these enzymes, and proteolytic proteins obtained from Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp. and variant proteins developed therefrom.
• the present invention provides protease compositions obtained from a Cellulomonas spp, DNA encoding the protease, vectors comprising the DNA encoding the protease, host cells transformed with the vector DNA, and an enzyme produced by the host cells.
• the present invention also provides cleaning compositions (e.g., detergent compositions), animal feed compositions, and textile and leather processing compositions comprising protease(s) obtained from a Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp.
• cleaning compositions e.g., detergent compositions
• animal feed compositions e.g., animal feed compositions
• textile and leather processing compositions comprising protease(s) obtained from a Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp.
• mutant proteases derived from the wild-type proteases described herein. These mutant proteases also find use in numerous applications.
• the present invention provides isolated serine proteases obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae.
• the proteases are cellulomonadins.
• the protease is obtained from an organism selected from the group consisting of Cellulomonas, Oerskovia, Cellulosimicrobium, Xylanibacterium, and Promicromonospora.
• the protease is obtained from Cellulomonas 69B4.
• the protease comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention provides isolated serine proteases comprising at least 45% amino acid identity with serine protease comprising SEQ ID NO:8.
• the isolated serine proteases comprise at least 50% identity, preferably at least 55%, more preferably at least 60%, yet more preferably at least 65%, even more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 75%, still more preferably at least 80%, more preferably 85%, yet more preferably 90%, even more preferably at least 95%, and most preferably 99% identity.
• the present invention also provides compositions comprising isolated serine proteases having immunological cross-reactivity with the serine proteases obtained from the Micrococcineae.
• the serine proteases have immunological cross-reactivity with serine protease obtained from Cellulomonas 69B4.
• the serine proteases have immunological cross-reactivity with serine protease comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the serine proteases have cross-reactivity with fragments (i.e., portions) of any of the serine proteases obtained from the Micrococcineae, the Cellulomonas 69B4 protease, and/or serine protease comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention provides the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8, wherein the sequence comprises substitutions at least one amino acid position selected from the group comprising positions 2, 8, 10, 11 , 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24, 26, 31 , 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 43, 46, 49, 51 , 54, 61 , 64, 65, 67, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 81 , 83, 85, 86, 90, 93, 99, 100, 105, 107, 109, 112, 113, 116, 118, 119, 121 , 123, 127, 145, 155, 159, 160, 163, 165, 170, 174, 179, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, and 188.
• the sequence comprises substitutions at least one amino acid position selected from the group comprising positions 1, 4, 22, 27, 28, 30, 32, 41 , 47, 48, 55, 59, 63, 66, 69, 75, 77, 80, 84, 87, 88, 89, 92, 96, 110, 111 , 114, 115, 117, 128, 134, 144, 143, 146, 151 , 154, 156, 158, 161 , 166, 176, 177, 181 , 182, 187, and 189.
• the present invention provides protease variants having an amino acid sequence comprising at least one substitution of an amino acid made at a position equivalent to a position in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention provides protease variants having an amino acid sequence comprising at least one substitution of an amino acid made at a position equivalent to a position in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease comprising at least a portion of SEQ ID NO:8.
• the substitutions are made at positions equivalent to positions 2, 8, 10, 11 , 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24, 26, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 43, 46, 49, 51 , 54, 61 , 64, 65, 67, 70, 71 , 76, 78, 79, 81, 83, 85, 86, 90, 93, 99, 100, 105, 107, 109, 112, 113, 116, 118, 119, 121, 123, 127, 145, 155, 159, 160, 163, 165, 170, 174, 179, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, and 188 in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease having an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• substitutions are made at positions equivalent to positions 1, 4, 22, 27, 28, 30, 32, 41 , 47, 48, 55, 59, 63, 66, 69, 75, 77, 80, 84, 87, 88, 89, 92, 96, 110, 111 , 114, 115, 117, 128, 134, 144, 143, 146, 151 , 154, 156, 158, 161 , 166, 176, 177, 181, 182, 187, and 189, in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease having an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the protease variants comprise the amino acid sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:8, wherein at least one amino acid position at positions selected from the group consisting of 14, 16, 35, 36, 65, 75, 76, 79, 123, 127, 159, and 179, are substituted with another amino acid.
• the proteases comprise at least one mutation selected from the group consisting of R14L, R16I, R16L, R16Q, R35F, T36S, G65Q, Y75G, N76L, N76V, R79T, R123L, R123Q, R127A, R127K, R127Q, R159K, R159Q, and R179Q.
• the proteases comprise multiple mutations selected from the group consisting of R16Q/R35F/R159Q, R16Q/R123L, R14L/R127Q/R159Q, R14L/R179Q, R123L/R127Q/R179Q, R16Q/R79T/R127Q, and R16Q/R79T. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the proteases comprise the following mutations R123L, R127Q, and R179Q.
• the present invention also provides protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of T36I, A38R, N170Y, N73T, G77T, N24A, T36G, N24E, L69S, T36N, T36S, E119R, N74G, T36W, S76W, N24T, N24Q, T36P, S76Y, T36H, G54D, G78A, S187P, R179V, N24V, V90P, T36D, L69H, G65P, G65R, N7L, W103M, N55F, G186E, A70H, S76V, G186V, R159F, T36Y, T36V, G65V, N24M, S51A, G65Y, Q71 I, V66H, P118A, T116F, A38F, N24H, V66D, S76L, G177M, G186I, H85Q, Q71K,
• amino acid sequence of the protease variants comprise at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of H85R, H85L, T62I, N67H, G54I, N24F, T40V, T86A, G63V, G54Q, A64F, G77Y, R35F, T129S, R61 M, I126L, S76N, T182V, R79G, T109P, R127F, R123E, P118I, T109R, 171S, T183K, N67T, P89N, F1T, A64K, G78I, T109L, G78V, A64M, A64S, T10G, G77N, A64L, N67D, S76T, N42H, D184F, D184R, S76I, S78R, A38K, V72I, V3T, T107S, A38V, F47I, N55Q, S76E, P118Q, T109G, Q71 D
• the present invention also provides protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of R35E, R35D, R14E, R14D, Q167E, G49C, S15R, S15H, 111W, S15C, G49Q, R35Q, R35V, G49E, R123D, R123Y, G49H, A38D, R35S, F47R, R123C, T151L, R14T, R35T, R123E, G49A, G49V, D56L, R35N, R35A, G12D, R35C, R123N, T46V, R123H, S155C, T121E, R127E, S113C, R123T, R16E, T46F, T121L, A38C, T46E, R123W, T44E, N55G, A8G, E119G, R35P, R14G, F59W, R127S, R61 E, R14S, S
• the protease variants have amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of S99G, T100K, R127A, F1 P, S155V, T128A, F165H, G177E, A70M, S140P, A87E, D2I, R159K, T36V, R179C, E119N, T10Y, I172A, A8T, F47V, W103L, R61 K, D2V, R179V, D2T, R159N, E119A, G54E, R16Q, G49S, R16I, S51L, S155E, S15M, R179I, T10Q, G12H, R159C, R179T, T163C, R159A, A132S, N157D, G13E, L141M, A41T, R123M, R14M, A8R, Q81P, N24T, T10D, A88F, R61Q, S99K, R179Y
• the present invention also provides protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of G26I, G26K, G26Q, G26V, G26W, F27V, F27W, I28P, T29E, T129W, T40D, T40Q, R43D, P43H, P43K, P43L, A22C, T40H, P89W, G91L, S18E, F59K, A30M, A30N, G31M, C33M, G161L, G161V, P43N, G26E, N73P, G84C, G84P, G45V, C33L, Y9E, Y9P, A147E, C158H, I28W, A48P, A22S, T62R, S137R, S155P, S155R, G156I, G156L, Q81A, R96C, I4D, I4P, A70P, C105E, C105G, C
• the protease variants have amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of S188E, S188V, Y117K, Y117Q, Y117R, Y117V, R127K, R127Q, R123L, T86S, R123I, Q81 E, L125M, H32A, S188T, N74F, C33D, F27I, A83M, Q71Y, R123T, V90A, F59W, L141C, N170E, T46F, S51V, G162P, S185R, A41S, R79V, T151C, T107S, T129Y, M180L, F166C, C105T, T160E, P89A, R159T, T183P, S188M, T10L, G25S, N24S, E119L, T107L, T107Q, G161K, G15Q, S15R, G153K, G153V, S188G, A83
• the present invention also provides protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of T36I, I172T, N24E, N170Y, G77T, G186N, I181 L, N73T, A38R, N74G, N24A, G54D, S76D, R123E, 159E, N112E, R35E, R179V, R123D, N24T, R179T, R14L, A38D, V90P, R14Q, R123I, R179D, S76V, R79G, R35L, S76E, S76Y, R79D, R79P, R35Q, R179N, N112D, R179E, G65P, Y75G, V90S, R179M, R35F, R123F, A64I, N24Q, R14I, R179A, R127A, R179I, N170D, R35A, R159F, T109E, R14D
• the protease variants have amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of G65L, S99D, T107M, S113T, S99T, G77S, R14M, A64N, R61 M, A70D, Q71G, A93D, S92G, N112Y, S15W, R159K, N67G, T10E, R127H, A64Y, R159C, A38L, T160E, T183E, R127S, A8E, S51Q, N7L, G63D, A38S, R35H, R14K, T107I, G12D, A64L, S76W, A41 N, R35M, A64V, A38Y, T183I, W103M, A41D, R127K, T36D, R61T, G65Y, G13S, R35Y, R123T, A64H, G49H, A70H, A64F, R127Y, R61 E,
• the present invention also provides protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of T36I, P89D, A93T, A93S, T36N, N73T, T36G, R159F, T36S, A38R, S99W, S76W, T36P, G77T, G54D, R127A, R159E, H85Q, T36D, S76L, S99N, Y75G, S76Y, R127S, N24E, R127Q, D184F, N170Y, N24A, S76T, H85L, Y75F, S76V, L69S, R159K, R127K, G65P, N74G, R159H,
• the protease variants have amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of N67Q, S187Q, Q71H, T163D, R61K, R159V, Q71 F, V31 F, V90I, R79D, T160E, R123Q, A38Y, S113G, A88F, A70G, 111T, G78A, N24L, S92G, R14L, D184R, G54L, N112L, H85Y, R16N, G77S, R179T, V80L, G65V, T121E, Q71D, R16G, P89N, N42H, G49F, I11S, R61 M, R159C, G65R, T183I, A93D, L111 E, S51Q, G78N, N67T, A38N, T40V, A64W, R159L, T10E, R179K, R123E, V90P, A64N, G161
• the present invention also provides protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of T36I, N170Y,
• the protease variants have amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution selected from the group consisting of G186I, A64Q, T109G, G64L, N24L, A8E, N112D, A38H, R179W, S114G, R123L, A8L, T129S, N170D, R159N, N67C, S92C, T107A, G54E, T107E, T36V, R127T, A8N, H85L, A110S, N170C, A64R, A132V, T36Y, G63D, W103M, T151V, R123P, W103Y, S76T, S187T, R127F, N67A, P171 M, A70S, R159H, S76Q, L125V, G54Q, G49L, R14I, R14Q, A83I, V90L, T183E, R159A, T101S,
• these variants have improved BMI performance under low pH conditions, as compared to wild-type Cellulomonas 69B4 protease.
• the present invention also provides serine proteases comprising at least a portion of an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, and SEQ ID NO:9.
• the nucleotide sequences encoding these serine proteases comprise a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, and SEQ ID NO:5.o
• the serine proteases are variants having amino acid sequences that are similar to that set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the proteases are obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae.
• the proteases are obtained from an organism selected from the group consisting of Cellulomonas, Oerskovia, Cellulosimicrobium, Xylanibacterium, and 5 Promicromonospora.
• the protease is obtained from variants of Cellulomonas 69B4.
• the present invention also provides isolated protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution of an amino acid made at a position equivalent to a position in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease comprising the amino acido sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8, wherein the amino acid of the protease comprises Arg14, Ser15, Arg16, Cys17, His32, Cys33, Phe52, Asp56, ThMOO, Val115, Thr116, Tyr117, Pro118, Glu119, Ala132, Glu133, Pro134, Gly135, Asp136, Ser137, Thr151 , Ser152, Gly153, Gly154, Ser155, Gly156, Asn157, Thr164, and Phe165.
• the catalytic triad of the proteases comprises His 32, Asp56, and Ser137.
• the proteases comprise Cys131 , Ala132, Glu133, Pro134, Gly135, Thr151 , Ser152, Gly153, Gly154, Ser155, Gly156, Asn157 and Gly 162, Thr 163, and Thr164.
• the amino acid sequence of the proteases comprise Phe52, Tyr117, Pro118 and Glu119.
• the amino acids sequences of the proteases have main-chain to main-chain hydrogen bonding from Gly 154 to the substrate main-chain.
• the proteases of the present invention comprise three disulfide bonds.
• the disulfide bonds are located between C17 and C38, C95 and C105, and C131 and C158.
• the disulfide bonds are located between C17 and C38, C95 and C105, and C131 and C158 of SEQ ID NO:8.
• the disulfide bonds are located at positions equivalent to the disulfide bonds in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention also provides isolated protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution of an amino acid made at a position equivalent to a position in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8, wherein the variants have altered substrate specificities as compared to wild-type Cellulomonas 69B4 protease.
• the variants have altered pis as compared to wild-type Cellulomonas 69B4 protease.
• the variants have improved stability as compared to wild-type Cellulomonas 69B4 protease.
• the variants exhibit altered surface properties.
• the variants exhibit altered surface properties as compared to wild-type Cellulomonas 69B4 protease.
• the variants comprise mutations at least one substitution at sites selected from the group consisting of 1 , 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11 , 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 , 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 , 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71 , 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81 , 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91 , 92, 93, 95, 99, 100, 101 , 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109,
• the present invention also provides protease variants having at least one improved property as compared to the wild-type protease.
• the variants are variants of a serine protease obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae.
• the proteases are obtained from an organism selected from the group consisting of Cellulomonas, Oerskovia, Cellulosimicrobium, Xylanibacterium, and Promicromonospora.
• the protease is obtained from variants of Cellulomonas 69B4.
• at least one improved property is selected from the group consisting of acid stability, thermostability, casein hydrolysis, keratin hydrolysis, cleaning performance, and LAS stability.
• the present invention also provides expression vectors comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding protease variants having amino acid sequences comprising at least one substitution of an amino acid made at a position equivalent to a position in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention provides host cells comprising these expression vectors.
• the host cells are selected from the group consisting of Bacillus sp., Streptomyces sp., Aspergillus sp., and Trichoderma sp.
• the present invention also provides the serine proteases produced by the host cells.
• the present invention also provides variant proteases comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, and 78,
• the amino acid sequence is encoded by a polynucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:53, 55, 57, 59, 61 , 63, 65, 67, 69, 71 , 73, 75, and 77.
• the present invention provides expression vectors comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding at least one protease variant.
• the present invention provides host cells comprising these expression vectors.
• the host cells are selected from the group consisting of Bacillus sp., Streptomyces sp., Aspergillus sp., and Trichoderma sp.
• the present invention also provides the serine proteases produced by the host cells.
• the present invention also provides compositions comprising at least a portion of an isolated serine protease of obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae, wherein the protease is encoded by a polynucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1 , SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, and SEQ ID NO:4.
• the sequence comprises at least a portion of SEQ ID NO:1.
• the present invention provides host cells comprising these expression vectors.
• the host cells are selected from the group consisting of Bacillus sp., Streptomyces sp., Aspergillus sp., and Trichoderma sp.
• the present invention also provides the serine proteases produced by the host cells.
• the present invention also provides variant serine proteases, wherein the proteases comprise at least one substitution corresponding to the amino acid positions in SEQ ID NO:8, and wherein variant proteases have better performance in at least one property
• the present invention also provides isolated polynucleotides comprising a nucleotide sequence (i) having at least 70% identity to SEQ ID NO:4, or (ii) being capable of hybridizing to a probe derived from the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, under conditionso of intermediate to high stringency, or (iii) being complementary to the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4.
• the present invention provides expression vectors encoding at least one such polynucleotide.
• the present invention provides host cells comprising these expression vectors.
• the host cells are selected from the group consisting of Bacillus sp.,s Streptomyces sp., Aspergillus sp., and Trichoderma sp.
• the present invention also provides the serine proteases produced by the host cells.
• the present invention provides polynucleotides that are complementary to at least a portion of the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4.
• the present invention also provides methods of producing an enzyme havingo protease activity, comprising: transforming a host cell with an expression vector comprising a polynucleotide having at least 70% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4; cultivating the transformed host cell under conditions suitable for host cell.
• the host cell is selected from the group consisting of Streptomyces, Aspergillus, Trichoderma and Bacillus species.
• the present invention also provides probes comprising 4 to 150 nucleotide sequence substantially identical to a corresponding fragment of SEQ ID NO:4, wherein the probe is used to detect a nucleic acid sequence coding for an enzyme having proteolytic activity, and wherein the nucleic acid sequence is obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae.
• the Micrococcineae is a Cellulomonas spp.
• the Cellulomonas is Cellulomonas strain 69B4.
• the present invention also provides cleaning compositions comprising at least one serine protease obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae.
• ate least one protease is obtained from an organism selected from the group consisting of Cellulomonas, Oerskovia, Cellulosimicrobium, Xylanibacterium, and Promicromonospora.
• the protease is obtained from Cellulomonas 69B4.
• at least one protease comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention provides isolated serine proteases comprising at least 45% amino acid identity with serine protease comprising SEQ ID NO:8.
• the isolated serine proteases comprise at least 50% identity, preferably at least 55%, more preferably at least 60%, yet more preferably at least 65%, even more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 75%, still more preferably at least 80%, more preferably 85%, yet more preferably 90%, even more preferably at least 95%, and most preferably 99% identity.
• the present invention further provides cleaning compositions comprising at least one serine protease, wherein at least one of the serine proteases has immunological cross- reactivity with the serine protease obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae.
• the serine proteases have immunological cross-reactivity with serine protease obtained from Cellulomonas 69B4. In alternative embodiments, the serine proteases have immunological cross-reactivity with serine protease comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8. In still further embodiments, the serine proteases have cross-reactivity with fragments (i.e., portions) of any of the serine proteases obtained from the Micrococcineae, the Cellulomonas 69B4 protease, and/or serine protease comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention further provides cleaning compositions comprising at least one serine protease, wherein the protease is a variant protease having an amino acid sequence comprising at least one substitution of an amino acid made at a position equivalent to a position in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease having an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the substitutions are made at positions equivalent to positions 2, 8, 10, 1 1 , 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24, 26, 31 , 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 43, 46, 49, 51, 54, 61 , 64, 65, 67, 70, 71 , 76, 78, 79, 81 , 83, 85, 86, 90, 93, 99, 100, 105, 107, 109, 112, 113, 116, 118, 119, 121 , 123, 127, 145, 155, 159, 160, 163, 165, 170, 174, 179, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, and 188 in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease comprising an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• substitutions are made at positions equivalent to positions 1 , 4, 22, 27, 28, 30, 32, 41 , 47, 48, 55, 59, 63, 66, 69, 75, 77, 80, 84, 87, 88, 89, 92, 96, 110, 111 , 114, 115, 117, 128, 134, 144, 143, 146, 151, 154, 156, 158, 161 , 166, 176, 177, 181 , 182, 187, and 189, in a Cellulomonas 69B4 protease comprising an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the protease comprises at least one amino acid substitutions at positions 14, 16, 35, 36, 65, 75, 76, 79, 123, 127, 159, and 179, in an equivalent amino acid sequence to that set forth in SEQ ID NO:8..
• the protease comprises at least one mutation selected from the group consisting of R14L, R16I, R16L, R16Q, R35F, T36S, G65Q, Y75G, N76L, N76V, R79T, R123L, R123Q, R127A, R127K, R127Q, R159K, R159Q, and R179Q.
• the protease comprises a set of mutations selected from the group consisting of the sets R16Q/R35F/R159Q, R16Q/R123L, R14L/R127Q/R159Q, R14L/R179Q, R123L/R127Q/R179Q, R16Q/R79T/R127Q, and R16Q/R79T.
• the protease comprises the following mutations R123L, R127Q, and R179Q.
• the variant serine proteases comprise at least one substitution corresponding to the amino acid positions in SEQ ID NO:8, and wherein the variant proteases have better performance in at least one property selected from the group consisting of keratin hydrolysis, thermostability, casein activity, LAS stability, and cleaning, as compared to wild-type Cellulomonas 69B4 protease.
• the variant protease comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, and 78.
• the variant protease amino acid sequence is encoded by a polynucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS:53, 55, 57, 59, 61 , 63, 65, 67, 69, 71 , 73, 75, and 77.
• the present invention also provides cleaning compositions comprising a cleaning effective amount of a proteolytic enzyme, the enzyme comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 70 % sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4, and a suitable cleaning formulation.
• the cleaning compositions further comprise one or more additional enzymes or enzyme derivatives selected from the group consisting of proteases, amylases, lipases, mannanases, pectinases, cutinases, oxidoreductases, hemicellulases, and cellulases.
• the present invention also provides compositions comprising at least one serine protease obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae, wherein the compositions further comprise at least one stabilizer.
• the stabilizer is selected from the group consisting of borax and glycerol.
• the present invention provides competitive inhibitors suitable to stablize the enzyme of the present invention to anionic surfactants.
• at least one protease is obtained from an organism selected from the group consisting of Cellulomonas, Oerskovia, Cellulosimicrobium, Xylanibacterium, and Promicromonospora.
• the protease is obtained from Cellulomonas 69B4.
• at least one protease comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention also provides animal feed comprising at least one serine protease obtained from a member of the Micrococcineae. In some embodiments, at least
• one protease is obtained from an organism selected from the group consisting of
• the protease is obtained from Cellulomonas 69B4.
• at least one protease comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ I D NO:8. o
• the present invention provides an isolated polypeptide having proteolytic activity,
• the present invention provides isolated polypeptides having approximately 40% to 98% identity with the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the polypeptides have approximately 50% to 95% identity with the sequences set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the polypeptides have approximately 60% to 90% identity with the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the polypeptides have approximately 65% to 85% identity with the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the polypeptides have approximately 90% to 95% identity with the sequence set forth in SEQ IDo NO:8.
• the present invention further provides proteases obtained from bacteria of the suborder Micrococcineae.
• the proteases are obtained from members of the family Rromicromonosporaceae.
• the proteases are obtained from any member of the genera Xylanimicrobium, Xylanibacterium,5 Xylanimonas, Myceligenerans, and Promicromonospora.
• the proteases are obtained from members of the family Cellulomonadaceae.
• the proteases are obtained from members of the genera Cellulomonas and Oerskovia.
• the proteases are derived from Cellulomonas spp.
• the Cellulomonas spp. is selectedo from Cellulomonas fimi, Cellulomonas biazotea, Cellulomonas cellasea, Cellulomonas hominis, Cellulomonas flavigena, Cellulomonas persica, Cellulomonas iranensis, Cellulomonas gelida, Cellulomonas humilata, Cellulomonas turbata, Cellulomonas uda, Cellulomonas fermentans, Cellulomonas xylanilytica, Cellulomonas humilata and Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035).
• the proteases are derived from Oerskovia spp.
• the Oerskovia spp. is selected from Oerskovia réellensis, Oerskovia paurometabola, Oerskovia enterophila, Oerskovia turbata and Oerskovia turbata strain DSM 20577.
• the proteases have apparent molecular weights of about
• MALDI-TOF matrix assisted laser desorption/ionizaton - time of flight
• the present invention further provides isolated polynucleotides that encode proteases comprise an amino acid sequence comprising at least 40% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8. In some embodiments, the proteases have at least 50% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8. In some embodiments, the proteases have at least 60% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8. In some embodiments, the proteases have at least 70% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8. In some embodiments, the proteases have at least 80% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8. In some embodiments, the proteases have at least 90% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8. In some embodiments, the proteases have at least 95% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8. The present invention also provides expression vectors comprising any of the polynucleotides provided above.
• the present invention further provides host cells transformed with the expression vectors of the present invention, such that at least one protease is expressed by the host cells.
• the host cells are bacteria, while in other embodiments, the host cells are fungi.
• the bacterial host cells are selected from the group consisting of the genera Bacillus and Streptomyces.
• the fungal host cells are members of the genus Trichoderma, while in other alternative preferred embodiments, the fungal host cells are members of the genus Aspergillus.
• the present invention also provides isolated polynucleotides comprising a nucleotide sequence (i) having at least 70% identity to SEQ ID NOS:3 or 4, or (ii) being capable of hybridizing to a probe derived from the nucleotide sequence disclosed in SEQ ID NOS: 3 or 4, under conditions of medium to high stringency, or (iii) being complementary to the nucleotide sequence disclosed in SEQ ID NOS:3 or 4.
• the present invention provides vectors comprising such polynucleotide.
• the present invention provides host cells transformed with such vector.
• the present invention further provides methods for producing at least one enzyme having protease activity, comprising: the steps of transforming a host cell with an expression vector comprising a polynucleotide comprising at least 70% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4, cultivating the transformed host cell under conditions suitable for the host cell to produce the protease; and recovering the protease.
• the host cell is a Streptomyces spp, while in other embodiments, the host cell is a Bacillus spp,, a Trichoderma spp., and/or a Aspergillus spp.
• the Streptomyces spp. is Streptomyces lividans.
• the host cell is T. reesei.
• the Aspergillus spp. is A. niger.
• the present invention also provides fragments (i.e., portions) of the DNA encoding the proteases provided herein. These fragments find use in obtaining partial length DNA fragments capable of being used to isolate or identify polynucleotides encoding mature protease enzyme described herein from Cellulomonas 69B4, or a segment thereof having proteolytic activity.
• portions' of the DNA provided in SEQ ID NO:1 find use in obtaining homologous fragments of DNA from other species, and particularly from Micrococcineae spp. which encode a protease or portion thereof having proteolytic activity.
• the present invention further provides at least one probe comprising a polynucleotide substantially identical to a fragment of SEQ ID NOS:1 , 2, 3 or 4, wherein the probe is used to detect a nucleic acid sequence coding for an enzyme having proteolytic activity, and wherein the nucleic acid sequence is obtained from a bacterial source.
• the bacterial source is a Cellulomonas spp. In some preferred embodiments, the bacterial source is Cellulomonas strain 69B4.
• the present invention further provides compositions comprising at least one of the proteases provided herein.
• the compositions are cleaning compositions.
• the present invention provides cleaning compositions comprising a cleaning effective amount of at least one protease comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 40% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8, at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8, and/or having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:8.
• the cleaning compositions further comprise at least one suitable cleaning adjunct.
• the protease is derived from a Cellulomonas sp. In some preferred embodiments, the Cellulomonas spp.
• Cellulomonas fimi is selected from Cellulomonas fimi, Cellulomonas biazotea, Cellulomonas cellasea, Cellulomonas hominis, Cellulomonas flavigena, Cellulomonas persica, Cellulomonas iranensis, Cellulomonas gelida, Cellulomonas humilata, Cellulomonas turbata, Cellulomonas uda, and Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035).
• the Cellulomonas spp is Cellulomonas. strain 69B4.
• the cleaning composition further comprises at least one additional enzymes or enzyme derivatives selected from the group consisting of protease, amylase, lipase, mannanase and cellulase.
• the present invention also provides isolated naturally occurring proteases comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 45% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8, at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8, at least 75% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8, at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8, at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:8, and/or having the sequence identity of SEQ ID NO:8, the protease being isolated from a Cellulomonas spp..
• the protease is isolated from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035).
• the present invention provides engineered variants of the serine proteases of the present invention.
• the engineered variants are genetically modified using recombinant DNA technologies, while in other embodiments, the variants are naturally occurring.
• the present invention further encompasses engineered variants of homologous enzymes.
• the engineered variant homologous proteases are genetically modified using recombinant DNA technologies, while in other embodiments, the variant homologous proteases are naturally occurring.
• the present invention also provides serine proteases that immunologically cross- react with the Cellulomonas 69B4 protease (i.e., ASP) of the present invention.
• ASP Cellulomonas 69B4 protease
• the present invention encompass fragments (e.g., epitopes) of the ASP protease that stimulate an immune response in animals (including, but not limited to humans) and/or are recognized by antibodies of any class.
• the present invention further encompasses epitopes on proteases that are cross-reactive with ASP epitopes.
• the ASP epitopes are recognized by antibodies, but do not stimulate an immune response in animals (including, but not limited to humans), while in other embodiments, the ASP epitopes stimulate an immune response in at least one animal species (including, but not limited to humans) and are recognized by antibodies of any class.
• the present invention also provides means and compositions for identifying and assessing cross-reactive epitopes.
• the present invention further provides at least one polynucleotide encoding a signal peptide (i) having at least 70% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:9, or (ii) being capable of hybridizing to a probe derived from the polypeptide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO:9, under conditions of medium to high stringency, or (iii) being complementary to the polypeptide sequence provided in SEQ ID NO:9.
• the present invention provides at vectors comprising the polynucleotide described above.
• a host cell is provided that is transformed with the vector.
• the present invention also provides methods for producing proteases, comprising: (a) transforming a host cell with an expression vector comprising a polynucleotide having at least 70% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4, at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4, and/or having a polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:4; (b) cultivating the transformed host cell under conditions suitable for the host cell to produce the protease; and (c) recovering the protease.
• the host cell is a Bacillus species (e.g., ⁇ . subtilis, B. clausii, or B. licheniformis).
• the host cell is a Streptomyces spp., (e.g., Streptomyces lividans).
• the host cell is a Trichoderma spp., (e.g., Trichoderma reesei).
• the host cell is a Aspergillus spp., (e.g., Aspergillus niger).
• an advantage of the present invention is that a polynucleotide has been isolated which provides the capability of isolating further polynucleotides which encode proteins having serine protease activity, wherein the backbone is substantially identical to that of the Cellulomonas protease of the present invention.
• the present invention provides means to produce host cells that are capable of producing the serine proteases of the present invention in relatively large quantities.
• the present invention provides means to produce protease with various commercial applications where degradation or synthesis of polypeptides are desired, including cleaning compositions, as well as feed components, textile processing, leather finishing, grain processing, meat processing, cleaning, preparation of protein hydrolysates, digestive aids, microbicidal compositions, bacteriostatic composition, fungistatic compositions, personal care products, including oral care, hair care, and/or skin care.
• the present invention further provides enzyme compositions have comparable or improved wash performance, as compared to presently used subtilisin proteases. Other objects and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the present Specification.
• Figure 1 provides an unrooted phylogenetic tree illustrating the relationship of novel strain 69B4 to members of the family Cellulomonadaceae and other related genera of the suborder Micrococcineae.
• Figure 2 provides a phylogenetic tree for ASP protease.
• Figure 3 provides a MALDI TOF spectrum of a protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4
• Figure 4 shows the sequence of N-terrninal most tryptic peptide from C. flavigena
• Figure 5 provides the plasmid map of the pSEGCT vector.
• Figure 6 provides the plasmid map of the pSEGCT69B4 vector.
• Figure 7 provides the plasmid map of the pSEA469BCT vector.
• Figure 8 provides the plasmid map of the pHPLT-Asp-C1-1 vector.
• Figure 9 provides the plasmid map of the pHPLT-Asp-C1-2 vector.
• Figure 10 provides the plasmid map of the pHPLT-Asp-C2-1 vector.
• Figure 11 provides the plasmid map of the pHPLT-Asp-C2-2 vector.
• Figure 12 provides the plasmid map of the pHPLT-ASP-lll vector.
• Figure 13 provides the plasmid map of the pHPLT-ASP-IV vector.
• Figure 14 provides the plasmid map of the pHPLT-ASP-VII vector.
• Figure 15 provides the plasmid map of the pXX-Kpnl vector.
• Figure 16 provides the plasmid map of the p2JM103-DNNP1 vector.
• Figure 17 provides the plasmid map of the pHPLT vector.
• Figure 18 provides the map and MXL-prom sequences for the opened pHPLT-ASP- C1-2.
• Figure 19 provides the plasmid map of the pENMx3 vector.
• Figure 20 provides the plasmid map of the plCatH vector.
• Figure 21 provides the plasmid map of the pTREX4 vector.
• Figure 22 provides the plasmid map of the pSLGAMpR2 vector.
• Figure 23 provides the plasmid map of the pRAXdes2-ASP vector.
• Figure 24 provides the plasmid map of the pAPDI vector.
• Figure 25 provides graphs showing ASP autolysis.
• Panel A provides a graph showing the ASP autolysis peptides observed in a buffer without LAS.
• Panel B provides a graph showing the ASP autolysis peptides observed in a buffer with 0.1% LAS.
• Figure 26 compares the cleaning activity (absorbance at 405 nm) dose (ppm) response curves of certain serine proteases (69B4 [-x-]; PURAFECT® [ - ⁇ - ]; RELASETM [- A-]; and OPTIMASETM [- ⁇ -] in liquid TIDE® detergent under North American wash conditions.
• Figure 27 provides a graph that compares the cleaning activity (absorbance at 405 nm) dose (ppm) response curves of certain serine proteases (69B4 [-x-]; PURAFECT® [- ⁇ - ]; RELASETM [-A-]; and OPTIMASETM [- ⁇ -] in powder detergent (0.66 g/l) North American concentration/detergent formulation under Japanese wash conditions.
• Figure 28 provides a graph that compares the cleaning activity (absorbance at 405 nm) dose (ppm) response curves of certain serine proteases (69B4 [-x-]; PURAFECT® [- ⁇ - ]; RELASETM [-A-]; and OPTIMASETM [- ⁇ -] in ARIEL® REGULAR detergent powder under European wash conditions.
• Figure 29 provides a graph that compares the cleaning activity (absorbance at 405 nm) dose (ppm) response curves of certain serine protease (69B4 [-x-]; PURAFECT® [- ⁇ - ]; RELASETM [-A-]; and OPTIMASETM [- ⁇ -] in PURE CLEAN detergent powder under Japanese conditions.
• Figure 30 provides a graph that compares the cleaning activity (absorbance at 405 nm) dose (ppm) response curves of certain serine proteases (69B4 [-x-]; PURAFECT® [- ⁇ - ]; RELASETM [-A-]; and OPTIMASETM [- ⁇ -] in powder detergent (1.00 g/l) under North American conditions.
• Figure 31 provides a graph that shows comparative oxidative inactivation of various serine proteases (100 ppm) as a measure of per cent enzyme activity over time (minutes) (69B4 [-* ⁇ ]; BPN' variant 1 [- ⁇ - ]; PURAFECT® [-A-]; and GG36-variant 1 [- ⁇ -]) with 0.1 M H 2 O 2 at pH 9.45, 25°C.
• Figure 32 provides a graph that shows comparative chelator inactivation of various serine proteases (100 ppm) as a measure of per cent enzyme activity over time (minutes) (69B4 [-* ⁇ ]; BPN'-variant 1 [- ⁇ - ]; PURAFECT® [-A-]; and GG36-variant 1 [- ⁇ -] with 10mM EDTA at pH 8.20, 45°C.
• Figure 33 provides a graph that shows comparative thermal inactivation of various serine proteases (100 ppm) as a measure of percent enzyme activity over time (minutes) (69B4 [-X-]; BPN'-variant [- ⁇ - ]; PURAFECT® [- A-]; and GG36-variant 1 [- ⁇ -] with 50 mM Tris at pH 8.0, 45°C.
• Figure 34 provides a graph that shows comparative thermal inactivation of certain serine proteases (69B4 [-x-]; BPN'-variant [- ⁇ - ]; PURAFECT® [-A-]; and GG36-variant-1 [- ⁇ -] at pH 8.60, over a temperature gradient of 57°C to 62 ° C.
• Figure 35 provides a graph that shows enzyme activity (hydrolysis of di-methyl casein measured by absorbance at 405 nm) of certain serine proteases (2.5 ppm) (69B4 [- ⁇ - ]; BPN'-variant [- ⁇ - PURAFECT® [-A-]; and GG36-variant 1 [ -• -] at pH 's ranging from 5 to 12 at 37°C.
• Figure 36 provides a bar graph that shows enzyme stability as indicated by % remaining activity (hydrolysis of di-methyl casein measured by absorbance at 405 nm) of certain serine proteases (2.5 ppm) (69B4, BPN'- variant; PURAFECT® and GG36-variant 1 at pHs ranging from 3 (
• Figure 37 provides a graph that shows enzyme stability as indicated by % remaining activity of a BPN'-variant at pH ranges from 3 (- ⁇ -), 4 (- ⁇ --), 5 ( - A-- ) to 6 (-X-) at 25°, 35°, and 45°C, respectively
• Figure 38 provides a graph that shows enzyme stability as indicated by % remaining activity of PURAFECT® TM protease at pH ranges from 3 (- ⁇ - ), 4 (- ⁇ --), 5 ( ⁇ A- ) to 6 (-- X”) at 25 ° , 35°, and 45 ° C, respectively
• Figure 39 provides a graph that shows enzyme stability as indicated by % remaining activity of 69B4 protease at pH ranges from 3 (- ⁇ - ), 4 (- ⁇ -), 5 ( --A- ) to 6 (-X-) at 25 ° , 35 ° and 45 ° C, respectively
• the present invention provides novel serine proteases, novel genetic material encoding these enzymes, and proteolytic proteins obtained from Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp. and variant proteins developed therefrom.
• the present invention provides protease compositions obtained from a Cellulomonas spp, DNA encoding the protease, vectors comprising the DNA encoding the protease, host cells transformed with the vector DNA, and an enzyme produced by the host cells.
• the present invention also provides cleaning compositions (e.g., detergent compositions), animal feed compositions, and textile and leather processing compositions comprising protease(s) obtained from a Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp.
• cleaning compositions e.g., detergent compositions
• animal feed compositions e.g., animal feed compositions
• textile and leather processing compositions comprising protease(s) obtained from a Micrococcineae spp., including but not limited to Cellulomonas spp.
• mutant proteases derived from the wild-type proteases described herein. These mutant proteases also find use in numerous applications.
• alkaliphilic bacteria have been isolated from in and around alkaline soda lakes (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,401 ,657, herein incorporated by reference). These alkaliphiles were analyzed according to the principles of numerical taxonomy with respect to each other and also a collection of known bacteria, and taxonomically characterized. Six natural clusters or phenons of alkaliphilic bacteria were generated. Amongst the strains isolated was a strain identified as 69B4.
• Cellulomonas spp. are Gram-positive bacteria classified as members of the family Cellulomonadaceae, Suborder Micrococcineae, Order Actinomycetales, Class
• Streptomyces are Gram-positive bacteria classified as members of the Familys Streptomycetaceae, Suborder Streptomycineae, Order Actinomycetales, class
• Streptomyces grows as an extensively branching primary or substrate mycelium and an abundant aerial mycelium that at maturity bear characteristic spores.
• Streptogrisins are serine proteases secreted in large amounts from a wide variety of Streptomyces species. The amino acid sequences of Streptomyces proteases have beeno determined from at least 9 different species of Streptomyces including Streptomyces griseus Streptogrisin C (accession no. P52320); alkaline proteinase (EC 3.4.21.-) from Streptomyces sp. (accession no. PC2053); alkaline serine proteinase I from Streptomyces sp. (accession no.
• the present invention provides protease enzymes produced by these organisms. Importantly, these enzymes have good stability and proteolytic activity. These enzymes find use in various applications, including but not limited to cleaning compositions, animal feed, textile processing and etc.
• the present invention also provides means to produce these enzymes.
• the proteases of the present invention are in pure or relatively pure form.
• the present invention also provides nucleotide sequences which are suitable to produce the proteases of the present invention in recombinant organisms.
• recombinant production provides means to produce the proteases in quantities that are commercially viable.
• proteolytic activity refers to a protein or peptide exhibiting the ability to hydrolyze peptides or substrates having peptide linkages.
• Many well known procedures exist for measuring proteolytic activity Kalisz, "Microbial Proteinases,” In: Fiechter (ed.), Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology. [1988]).
• proteolytic activity may be ascertained by comparative assays which analyze the respective protease's ability to hydrolyze a commercial substrate.
• Exemplary substrates useful in the such analysis of protease or protelytic activity include, but are not limited to di-methyl casein (Sigma C-9801), bovine collagen (Sigma C-9879), bovine elastin (Sigma E-1625), and bovine keratin (ICN Biomedical 902111). Colorimetric assays utilizing these substrates are well known in the art (See e.g., WO 99/34011 ; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,450, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. The pNA assay (See e.g., Del Mar et al., Anal.
• Biochem., 99:316-320 [1979]) also finds use in determining the active enzyme concentration for fractions collected during gradient elution.
• This assay measures the rate at which p-nitroaniline is released as the enzyme hydrolyzes the soluble synthetic substrate, succinyl-alanine-alanine-proline-phenylalanine-p-nitroanilide (sAAPF-pNA).
• sAAPF-pNA succinyl-alanine-alanine-proline-phenylalanine-p-nitroanilide
• the rate of production of yellow color from the hydrolysis reaction is measured at 410 nm on a spectrophotometer and is proportional to the active enzyme concentration.
• absorbance measurements at 280 nm can be used to determine the total protein concentration.
• the active enzyme/total-protein ratio gives the enzyme purity.
• ASP protease As used herein, the terms "ASP protease,” “Asp protease,” and “Asp,” refer to the serine proteases described herein.
• the Asp protease is the protease designed herein as 69B4 protease obtained from Cellulomonas strain 69B4.
• 69B4 protease refers to a naturally occurring mature protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035) having substantially identical amino acid sequences as provided in SEQ ID NO:8.
• the present invention provides portions of the ASP protease.
• Cellulomonas protease homologues refers to naturally occurring proteases having substantially identical amino acid sequences to the mature protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 or polynucleotide sequences which encode for such naturally occurring proteases, and which proteases retain the functional characteristics of a serine protease encoded by such nucleic acids. In some embodiments, these protease
• protease variant As used herein, the terms "protease variant,” “ASP variant,” “ASP protease variant,” . and “69B protease variant” are used in reference to proteases that are similar to the wild- type ASP, particularly in their function, but have mutations in their amino acid sequence that make them different in sequence from the wild-type protease. o As used herein, “Cellulomonas ssp.” refers to all of the species within the genus
• Cellulomonas which are Gram-positive bacteria classified as members of the Family Cellulomonadaceae, Suborder Micrococcineae, Order Actinomycetales, Class Actinobacteria. It is recognized that the genus Cellulomonas continues to undergo taxonomical reorganization. Thus, it is intended that the genus include species that haves been reclassified
• Streptomyces ssp refers to all of the species within the genus "Streptomyces,” which are Gram-positive bacteria classified as members of the Family Streptomycetaceae, Suborder Streptomycineae, Order Actinomycetales, class Actinobacteria. It is recognized that the genus Streptomyces continues to undergoo taxonomical reorganization. Thus, it is intended that the genus include species that have been reclassified
• the genus Bacillus includes all species within the genus “Bacillus,” as known to those of skill in the art, including but not limited to B. subtilis, B. licheniformis, B. lentus, B. brevis, B. stearothermophilus, B. alkalophilus, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. clausii, B.5 halodurans, B. megaterium, B. coagulans, B. circulans, B. lautus, and B. thuringiensis. It is recognized that the genus Bacillus continues to undergo taxonomical reorganization.
• the genus include species that have been reclassified, including but not limited to such organisms as B. stearothermophilus, which is now named "Geobacillus stearothermophilus.”
• B. stearothermophilus which is now named "Geobacillus stearothermophilus.”
• the production of resistant endospores in the presence of oxygen is0 considered the defining feature of the genus Bacillus, although this characteristic also applies to the recently named AHcyclobacillus, Amphibacillus, Aneurinibacillus, Anoxybacillus, Brevibacillus, Filobacillus, Gracilibacillus, Halobacillus, Paenibacillus, Salibacillus, Thermobacillus, Ureibacillus, and Virgibacillus.
• polynucleotide and “nucleic acid”, used interchangeably herein, refer to a polymeric form of nucleotides of any length, either ribonucleotides or deoxyribonucleotides. These terms include, but are not limited to, a single-, double- or triple-stranded DNA, genomic DNA, cDNA, RNA, DNA-RNA hybrid, or a polymer comprising purine and pyrimidine bases, or other natural, chemically, biochemically modified, non- natural or derivatized nucleotide bases.
• polynucleotides genes, gene fragments, chromosomal fragments, ESTs, exons, introns, mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, ribozymes, cDNA, recombinant polynucleotides, branched polynucleotides, plasmids, vectors, isolated DNA of any sequence, isolated RNA of any sequence, nucleic acid probes, and primers.
• polynucleotides comprise modified nucleotides, such as methylated nucleotides and nucleotide analogs, uracyl, other sugars and linking groups such as fluororibose and thioate, and nucleotide branches.
• the sequence of nucleotides is interrupted by non- nucleotide components.
• DNA construct and "transforming DNA” are used interchangeably to refer to DNA used to introduce sequences into a host cell or organism.
• the DNA may be generated in vitro by PCR or any other suitable technique(s) known to those in the art.
• the DNA construct com prises a sequence of interest (e.g., as an incoming sequence).
• the sequence is operably linked to additional elements such as control elements (e.g., promoters, etc.).
• the DNA construct may further comprise a selectable marker. It may further comprise an incoming sequence flanked by homology boxes.
• the transforming DNA comprises other non-homologous sequences, added to the ends (e.g., stuffer sequences or flanks).
• the ends of the incoming sequence are closed such that the transforming DNA forms a closed circle.
• the transforming sequences may be wild-type, mutant or modified.
• the DNA construct comprises sequences homologous to the host cell chromosome. In other embodiments, the DNA construct comprises non-homologous sequences. Once the DNA construct is assembled in vitro it may be used to: 1) insert heterologous sequences into a desired target sequence of a host cell, and/or 2) mutagenize a region of the host cell chromosome (i.e., replace an endogenous sequence with a heterologous sequence), 3) delete target genes; and/or introduce a replicating plasmid into the host.
• expression cassette and "expression vector” refer to nucleic acid constructs generated recombinantly or synthetically, with a series of specified nucleic acid elements that permit transcription of a particular nucleic acid in a target cell.
• the recombinant expression cassette can be incorporated into a plasmid, chromosome, mitochondrial DNA, plastid DNA, virus, or nucleic acid fragment.
• the recombinant expression cassette portion of an expression vector includes, among other sequences, a nucleic acid sequence to be transcribed and a promoter.
• expression vectors have the ability to incorporate and express heterologous DNA fragments in a host cell.
• the term "vector” refers to a polynucleotide construct designed to introduce nucleic acids into one or more cell types.
• Vectors include cloning vectors, expression vectors, shuttle vectors, plasmids, cassettes and the like.
• the polynucleotide construct comprises a DNA sequence encoding the protease (e.g., precursor or mature protease) that is operably linked to a suitable prosequence (e.g., secretory, etc.) capable of effecting the expression of the DNA in a suitable host.
• plasmid refers to a circular double-stranded (ds) DNA construct used as a cloning vector, and which forms an extrachromosomal self-replicating genetic element in some eukaryotes or prokaryotes, or integrates into the host chromosome.
• the term "introduced” refers to any method suitable for transferring the nucleic acid sequence into the cell. Such methods for introduction include but are not limited to protoplast fusion, transfection, transformation, conjugation, and transduction (See e.g., Ferrari et al, "Genetics,” in Hardwood et al, (eds.), Bacillus. Plenum Publishing Corp., pages 57-72, [1989]).
• the terms “transformed” and “stably transformed” refers to a cell that has a non-native (heterologous) polynucleotide sequence integrated into its genome or as an episomal plasmid that is maintained for at least two generations.
• selectable marker-encoding nucleotide sequence refers to a nucleotide sequence which is capable of expression in the host cells and where expression of the selectable marker confers to cells containing the expressed gene the ability to grow in the presence of a corresponding selective agent or lack of an essential nutrient.
• selectable marker refers to a nucleic acid (e.g., a gene) capable of expression in host cell which allows for ease of selection of those hosts containing the vector.
• selectable markers include but are not limited to antimicrobials.
• selectable marker refers to genes that provide an indication that a host cell has taken up an incoming DNA of interest or some other reaction has occurred.
• selectable markers are genes that confer antimicrobial resistance or a metabolic advantage on the host cell to allow cells containing the exogenous DNA to be distinguished from cells that have not received any exogenous sequence during the transformation.
• a "residing selectable marker” is one that is located on the chromosome of the microorganism to be transformed.
• a residing selectable marker encodes a gene that is different from the selectable marker on the transforming DNA construct. Selective markers are well known to those of skill in the art.
• the marker is an antimicrobial resistant marker (e.g., amp R ; phleo R ; spec R ; kan R ; ery R ; tet R ; cmp R ; and neo R ; See e.g., Guerot-Fleury, Gene, 167:335-337 [1995]; Palmeros et al., Gene 247:255-264 [2000]; and Trieu-Cuot et al, Gene, 23:331-341 [1983]).
• Other markers useful in accordance with the invention include, but are not limited to auxotrophic markers, such as tryptophan; and detection markers, such as ⁇ - galactosidase.
• promoter refers to a nucleic acid sequence that functions to direct transcription of a downstream gene.
• the promoter is appropriate to the host cell in which the target gene is being expressed.
• the promoter, together with other transcriptional and translational regulatory nucleic acid sequences (also termed “control sequences") is necessary to express a given gene.
• control sequences also termed “control sequences”
• the transcriptional and translational regulatory sequences include, but are not limited to, promoter sequences, ribosomal binding sites, transcriptional start and stop sequences, translational start and stop sequences, and enhancer or activator sequences.
• a nucleic acid is "operably linked" when it is placed into a functional relationship with another nucleic acid sequence.
• DNA encoding a secretory leader i.e., a signal peptide
• a promoter or enhancer is operably linked to a coding sequence if it affects the transcription of the sequence
• a ribosome binding site is operably linked to a coding sequence if it is positioned so as to facilitate translation.
• operably linked means that the DNA sequences being linked are contiguous, and, in the case of a secretory leader, contiguous and in reading phase. However, enhancers do not have to be contiguous. Linking is accomplished by ligation at convenient restriction sites. If such sites do not exist, the synthetic oligonucleotide adaptors or linkers are used in accordance with conventional practice.
• gene refers to a polynucleotide (e.g., a DNA segment), that encodes a polypeptide and includes regions preceding and following the coding regions as well as intervening sequences (introns) between individual coding segments (exons).
• homologous genes refers to a pair of genes from different, but usually related species, which correspond to each other and which are identical or very similar to each other. The term encompasses genes that are separated by speciation (i.e. , the development of new species) (e.g., orthologous genes), as well as genes that have been separated by genetic duplication (e.g., paralogous genes).
• ortholog and “orthologous genes” refer to genes in different species that have evolved from a common ancestral gene (i.e., a homologous gene) by speciation. Typically, orthologs retain the same function during the course of evolution. Identification of orthologs finds use in the reliable prediction of gene function in newly sequenced genomes.
• paralogous genes refer to genes that are related by duplication within a genome. While orthologs retain the same function through the course of evolution, paralogs evolve new functions, even though some functions are often related to the original one. Examples of paralogous genes include, but are not limited to genes encoding trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, and thrombin, which are all serine proteinases and occur together within the same species.
• homology refers to sequence similarity or identity, with identity being preferred. This homology is determined using standard techniques known in the art (See e.g., Smith and Waterman, Adv. Appl. Math., 2:482 [1981]; Needleman and Wunsch, J. Mol. Biol., 48:443 [1970]; Pearson and Lipman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:2444 [1988]; programs such as GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA, and TFASTA in the Wisconsin Genetics Software Package (Genetics Computer Group, Madison, WI); and Devereux et al., Nucl. Acid Res., 12:387-395 [1984]).
• an "analogous sequence” is one wherein the function of the gene is essentially the same as the gene based on the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 protease. Additionally, analogous genes include at least 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% sequence identity with the sequence of the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 protease.
• analogous sequences have an alignment of between 70 to 100% of the genes found in the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 protease region and/or have at least between 5 - 10 genes found in the region aligned with the genes in the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 chromosome. In additional embodiments more than one of the above properties applies to the sequence.
• Analogous sequences are determined by known methods of sequence alignment. A commonly used alignment method is BLAST, although as indicated above and below, there are other methods that also find use in aligning sequences.
• PILEUP creates a multiple sequence alignment from a group of related sequences using progressive, pair-wise alignments. It can also plot a tree showing the clustering relationships used to create the alignment. PILEUP uses a simplification of the progressive alignment method of Feng and Doolittle (Feng and Doolittle, J. Mol. Evol., 35:351-360 [1987]). The method is similar to that described by Higgins and Sharp (Higgins and Sharp, CABIOS 5:151-153 [1989]).
• Useful PILEUP parameters including a default gap weight of 3.00, a default gap length weight of 0.10, and weighted end gaps.
• BLAST BLAST algorithm
• Altschul etal BLAST algorithm
• WU-BLAST-2 WU-BLAST-2 uses several search parameters, most of which are set to the default values.
• the HSP S and HSP S2 parameters are dynamic values and are established by the program itself depending upon the composition of the particular sequence and composition of the particular database against which the sequence of interest is being searched. However, the values may be adjusted to increase sensitivity.
• a % amino acid sequence identity value is determined by the number of matching identical residues divided by the total number of residues of the "longer" sequence in the aligned region. The "longer" sequence is the one having the most actual residues in the aligned region (gaps introduced by WU-Blast-2 to maximize the alignment score are ignored).
• percent (%) nucleic acid sequence identity is defined as the percentage of nucleotide residues in a candidate sequence that are identical with the nucleotide residues of the starting sequence (i.e., the sequence of interest).
• a preferred method utilizes the BLASTN module of WU-BLAST-2 set to the default parameters, with overlap span and overlap fraction set to 1 and 0.125, respectively.
• hybridization refers to the process by which a strand of nucleic acid joins with a complementary strand through base pairing, as known in the art.
• a nucleic acid sequence is considered to be "selectively hybridizable" to a reference nucleic acid sequence if the two sequences specifically hybridize to one another under moderate to high stringency hybridization and wash conditions.
• Hybridization conditions are based on the melting temperature (Tm) of the nucleic acid binding complex or probe.
• Tm melting temperature
• maximum stringency typically occurs at about Tm-5°C (5° below the Tm of the probe); “high stringency” at about 5-10°C below the Tm; “intermediate stringency” at about 10-20°C below the Tm of the probe; and “low stringency” at about 20-25°C below the Tm.
• maximum stringency conditions may be used to identify sequences having strict identity or near-strict identity with the hybridization probe; while an intermediate or low stringency hybridization can be used to identify or detect polynucleotide sequence homologs.
• Moderate and high stringency hybridization conditions are well known in the art.
• An example of high stringency conditions includes hybridization at about 42°C in 50% formamide, 5X SSC, 5X Denhardt's solution, 0.5% SDS and 100 ⁇ g/ml denatured carrier DNA followed by washing two times in 2X SSC and 0.5% SDS at room temperature and two additional times in 0.1 X SSC and 0.5% SDS at 42°C.
• moderate stringent conditions include an overnight incubation at 37°C in a solution comprising 20% formamide, 5 x SSC (150mM NaCl, 15 mM trisodium citrate), 50 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7.6), 5 x Denhardt's solution, 10% dextran sulfate and 20 mg/ml denaturated sheared salmon sperm DNA, followed by washing the filters in 1x SSC at about 37 - 50°C.
• Those of skill in the art know how to adjust the temperature, ionic strength, etc. as necessary to accommodate factors such as probe length and the like.
• recombinant includes reference to a cell or vector, that has been modified by the introduction of a heterologous nucleic acid sequence or that the cell is derived from a cell so modified.
• recombinant cells express genes that are not found in identical form within the native (non-recombinant) form of the cell or •> express native genes that are otherwise abnormally expressed, under expressed or not expressed at all as a result of deliberate human intervention.
• recombining and generating a “recombined” nucleic acid are generally the assembly of two or more nucleic acid fragments wherein the assembly gives rise to a chimeric gene.
• mutant DNA sequences are generated with site saturation mutagenesis in at least one codon. In another preferred embodiment, site saturation mutagenesis is performed for two or more codons. In a further embodiment, mutant DNA sequences have more than 50%, more than 55%, more than 60%, more than 65%, more than 70%, more than 75%, more than 80%, more than 85%, more than 90%, more than 95%, or more than 98% homology with the wild-type sequence. In alternative
• mutant DNA is generated in vivo using any known mutagenic procedure such as, for example, radiation, nitrosoguanidine and the like.
• the desired DNA sequence is then isolated and used in the methods provided herein.
• target sequence refers to a DNA sequence in the host cell that encodes the sequence where it is desired for the incoming sequence to be inserted intoo the host cell genome.
• the target sequence encodes a functional wild-type gene or operon, while in other embodiments the target sequence encodes a functional mutant gene or operon, or a non-functional gene or operon.
• a "flanking sequence” refers to any sequence that is either upstream or downstream of the sequence being discussed (e.g., for genes A-B-C, gene B is flankeds by the A and C gene sequences).
• the incoming sequence is flanked by a homology box on each side.
• the incoming sequence and the homology boxes comprise a unit that is flanked by stuffer sequence on each side.
• a flanking sequence is present on only a single side (either 3' or 5'), but in preferred embodiments, it is on each side of the sequence being flanked.
• a flanking sequence is present on only a single side (either 3' or 5'), while in preferred embodiments, it is present on each side of the sequence being flanked.
• stuffer sequence refers to any extra DNA that flanks homology boxes (typically vector sequences). However, the term encompasses any non- homologous DNA sequence. Not to be limited by any theory, a stuffer sequence provides a5 noncritical target for a cell to initiate DNA uptake.
• amplification and “gene amplification” refer to a process by which specific DNA sequences are disproportionately replicated such that the amplified gene becomes present in a higher copy number than was initially present in the genome.
• selection of cells by growth in the presence of a drug results in the amplification of either the endogenous gene encoding the gene product required for growth in the presence of the drug or by amplification of exogenous (i.e., input) sequences encoding this gene product, or both.
• Amplification is a special case of nucleic acid replication involving template specificity. It is to be contrasted with non-specific template replication (i.e., replication that is template-dependent but not dependent on a specific template). Template specificity is here distinguished from fidelity of replication (i.e., synthesis of the proper polynucleotide sequence) and nucleotide (ribo- or deoxyribo-) specificity. Template specificity is frequently described in terms of “target” specificity. Target sequences are “targets” in the sense that they are sought to be sorted out from other nucleic acid. Amplification techniques have been designed primarily for this sorting out.
• the term "co-amplification” refers to the introduction into a single cell of an amplifiable marker in conjunction with other gene sequences (i.e., comprising one or more non-selectable genes such as those contained within an expression vector) and the application of appropriate selective pressure such that the cell amplifies both the amplifiable marker and the other, non-selectable gene sequences.
• the amplifiable marker may be physically linked to the other gene sequences or alternatively two separate pieces of DNA, one containing the amplifiable marker and the other containing the non-selectable marker, may be introduced into the same cell.
• the terms "amplifiable marker,” “amplifiable gene,” and “amplification vector” refer to a gene or a vector encoding a gene which permits the amplification of that gene under appropriate growth conditions.
• Tempor specificity is achieved in most amplification techniques by the choice of enzyme.
• Amplification enzymes are enzymes that, under conditions they are used, will process only specific sequences of nucleic acid in a heterogeneous mixture of nucleic acid.
• MDV-1 RNA is the specific template for the replicase (See e.g., Kacian et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 69:3038 [1972]).
• Other nucleic acids are not replicated by this amplification enzyme.
• this amplification enzyme has a stringent specificity for its own promoters (See, Chamberlin et al., Nature 228:227 [1970]).
• T4 DNA ligase the enzyme will not ligate the two oligonucleotides or polynucleotides, where there is a mismatch between the oligonucleotide or polynucleotide substrate and the template at the ligation junction (See, Wu and Wallace, Genomics 4:560 [1989]).
• Taq and Pfu polymerases by virtue of their ability to function at high temperature, are found to display high specificity for the sequences bounded and thus defined by the primers; the high temperature results in thermodynamic conditions that favor primer hybridization with the target sequences and not hybridization with non-target sequences.
• amplifiable nucleic acid refers to nucleic acids which may be amplified by any amplification method. It is contemplated that "amplifiable nucleic acid” will usually comprise "sample template.”
• sample template refers to nucleic acid originating from a sample which is analyzed for the presence of “target” (defined below).
• background template is used in reference to nucleic acid other than sample template which may or may not be present in a sample. Background template is most often inadvertent. It may be the result of carryover, or it may be due to the presence of nucleic acid contaminants sought to be purified away from the sample. For example, nucleic acids from organisms other than those to be detected may be present as background in a test sample.
• the term "primer” refers to an oligonucleotide, whether occurring naturally as in a purified restriction digest or produced synthetically, which is capable of acting as a point of initiation of synthesis when placed under conditions in which synthesis of a primer extension product which is complementary to a nucleic acid strand is induced, (i.e., in the presence of nucleotides and an inducing agent such as DNA polymerase and at a suitable temperature and pH).
• the primer is preferably single stranded for maximum efficiency in amplification, but may alternatively be double stranded. If double stranded, the primer is first treated to separate its strands before being used to prepare extension products.
• the primer is an oligodeoxyribonucleotide.
• the primer must be sufficiently long to prime the synthesis of extension products in the presence of the inducing agent. The exact lengths of the primers will depend on many factors, including temperature, source of primer and the use of the method.
• probe refers to an oligonucleotide (i.e., a sequence of nucleotides), whether occurring naturally as in a purified restriction digest or produced synthetically, recombinantly or by PCR amplification, which is capable of hybridizing to another oligonucleotide of interest.
• a probe may be single-stranded or double-stranded. Probes are useful in the detection, identification and isolation of particular gene sequences.
• any probe used in the present invention will be labeled with any "reporter molecule,” so that is detectable in any detection system, including, but not limited to enzyme (e.g., ELISA, as well as enzyme-based histochemical assays), fluorescent, radioactive, and luminescent systems. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular detection system or label.
• the term "target,” when used in reference to the polymerase chain reaction, refers to the region of nucleic acid bounded by the primers used for polymerase chain reaction. Thus, the “target” is sought to be sorted out from other nucleic acid sequences. A “segment” is defined as a region of nucleic acid within the target sequence.
• the term “polymerase chain reaction” (“PCR”) refers to the methods of U.S. Patent Nos. 4,683,195 4,683,202, and 4,965,188, hereby incorporated by reference, which include methods for increasing the concentration of a segment of a target sequence in a mixture of genomic DNA without cloning or purification.
• This process for amplifying the target sequence consists of introducing a large excess of two oligonucleotide primers to the DNA mixture containing the desired target sequence, followed by a precise sequence of thermal cycling in the presence of a DNA polymerase.
• the two primers are complementary to their respective strands of the double stranded target sequence.
• the mixture is denatured and the primers then annealed to their complementary sequences within the target molecule.
• the primers are extended with a polymerase so as to form a new pair of complementary strands.
• the steps of denaturation, primer annealing and polymerase extension can be repeated many times (i.e., denaturation, annealing and extension constitute one "cycle”; there can be numerous “cycles”) to obtain a high concentration of an amplified segment of the desired target sequence.
• the length of the amplified segment of the desired target sequence is determined by the relative positions of the primers with respect to each other, and therefore, this length is a controllable parameter.
• the method is referred to as the “polymerase chain reaction” (hereinafter "PCR”). Because the desired amplified segments of the target sequence become the predominant sequences (in terms of concentration) in the mixture, they are said to be "PCR amplified”.
• amplification reagents refers to those reagents (deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates, buffer, etc.), needed for amplification except for primers, nucleic acid template and the amplification enzyme.
• amplification reagents along with other reaction components are placed and contained in a reaction vessel (test tube, microwell, etc.).
• PCR it is possible to amplify a single copy of a specific target sequence in genomic DNA to a level detectable by several different methodologies (e.g., hybridization with a labeled probe; incorporation of biotinylated primers followed by avidin-enzyme conjugate detection; incorporation of 32 P-labeled deoxynucleotide triphosphates, such as dCTP or dATP, into the amplified segment).
• any oligonucleotide or polynucleotide sequence can be amplified with the appropriate set of primer molecules.
• the amplified segments created by the PCR process itself are, themselves, efficient templates for subsequent PCR amplifications.
• PCR product refers to the resultant mixture of compounds after two or more cycles of the PCR steps of denaturation, annealing and extension are complete. These terms encompass the case where there has been amplification of one or more segments of one or more target sequences.
• RT-PCR refers to the replication and amplification of RNA sequences.
• reverse transcription is coupled to PCR, most often using a one enzyme procedure in which a thermostable polymerase is employed, as described in U.S. Patent No. 5,322,770, herein incorporated by reference.
• the RNA template is converted to cDNA due to the reverse transcriptase activity of the polymerase, and then amplified using the polymerizing activity of the polymerase (i.e., as in other PCR methods).
• restriction endonucleases and “restriction enzymes” refer to bacterial enzymes, each of which cut double-stranded DNA at or near a specific nucleotide sequence.
• a “restriction site” refers to a nucleotide sequence recognized and cleaved by a given restriction endonuclease and is frequently the site for insertion of DNA fragments. In certain embodiments of the invention restriction sites are engineered into the selective marker and into 5' and 3' ends of the DNA construct.
• chromosomal integration refers to the process whereby an incoming sequence is introduced into the chromosome of a host cell.
• the homologous regions of the transforming DNA align with homologous regions of the chromosome. Subsequently, the sequence between the homology boxes is replaced by the incoming sequence in a double crossover (i.e., homologous recombination).
• homologous sections of an inactivating chromosomal segment of a DNA construct align with the flanking homologous regions of the indigenous chromosomal region of the Bacillus chromosome. Subsequently, the indigenous chromosomal region is deleted by the DNA construct in a double crossover (i.e., homologous recombination).
• Homologous recombination means the exchange of DNA fragments between two DNA molecules or paired chromosomes at the site of identical or nearly identical nucleotide sequences.
• chromosomal integration is homologous recombination.
• homologous sequences as used herein means a nucleic acid or polypeptide sequence having 100%, 99%, 98%, 97%, 96%, 95%, 94%, 93%, 92%, 91%, 90%, 88%, 85%, 80%, 75%, or 70% sequence identity to another nucleic acid or polypeptide sequence when optimally aligned for comparison. In some embodiments, homologous sequences have between 85% and 100% sequence identity, while in other embodiments there is between 90% and 100% sequence identity, and in more preferred embodiments, there is 95% and 100% sequence identity.
• amino acid refers to peptide or protein sequences or portions thereof.
• protein protein
• peptide and “polypeptide” are used interchangeably.
• protein of interest and “polypeptide of interest” refer to a protein/polypeptide that is desired and/or being assessed.
• the protein of interest is expressed intracellularly, while in other embodiments, it is a secreted polypeptide.
• these enzyme include the serine proteases of the present invention.
• the protein of interest is a secreted polypeptide which is fused to a signal peptide (i.e., an amino-terminal extension on a protein to be secreted). Nearly all secreted proteins use an amino- terminal protein extension which plays a crucial role in the targeting to and translocation of precursor proteins across the membrane. This extension is proteolytically removed by a signal peptidase during or immediately following membrane transfer.
• heterologous protein refers to a protein or polypeptide that does not naturally occur in the host cell.
• heterologous proteins include enzymes such as hydrolases including proteases.
• the gene encoding the proteins are naturally occurring genes, while in other embodiments, mutated and/or synthetic genes are used.
• homologous protein refers to a protein or polypeptide native or naturally occurring in a cell.
• the cell is a Gram-positive cell, while in particularly preferred embodiments, the cell is a Bacillus host cell.
• the homologous protein is a native protein produced by other organisms, including but not limited to E. coli, Streptomyces, Trichoderma, and Aspergillus.
• the invention encompasses host cells producing the homologous protein via recombinant DNA technology.
• an "operon region” comprises a group of contiguous genes that are transcribed as a single transcription unit from a common promoter, and are thereby subject to co-regulation.
• the operon includes a regulator gene.
• operons that are highly expressed as measured by RNA levels, but have an unknown or unnecessary function are used.
• an "antimicrobial region” is a region containing at least one gene that encodes an antimicrobial protein.
• a polynucleotide is said to "encode" an RNA or a polypeptide if, in its native state or when manipulated by methods known to those of skill in the art, it can be transcribed and/or translated to produce the RNA, the polypeptide or a fragment thereof.
• the anti-sense strand of such a nucleic acid is also said to encode the sequences.
• a DNA can be transcribed by an RNA polymerase to produce RNA, but an RNA can be reverse transcribed by reverse transcriptase to produce a DNA.
• a DNA can encode a RNA and vice versa.
• the term "regulatory segment” or “regulatory sequence” or “expression control sequence” refers to a polynucleotide sequence of DNA that is operatively linked with a polynucleotide sequence of DNA that encodes the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide chain to effect the expression of the encoded amino acid sequence.
• the regulatory sequence can inhibit, repress, or promote the expression of the operably linked polynucleotide sequnce encoding the amino acid.
• “Host strain” or “host cell” refers to a suitable host for an expression vector comprising DNA according to the present invention.
• An enzyme is "overexpressed” in a host cell if the enzyme is expressed in the cell at a higher level that the level at which it is expressed in a corresponding wild-type cell.
• protein and “polypeptide” are used interchangeability herein.
• the 3-letter code for amino acids as defined in conformity with the IUPAC-IUB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature (JCBN) is used through out this disclosure. It is also understood that a polypeptide may be coded for by more than one nucleotide sequence due to the degeneracy of the genetic code.
• a "prosequence” is an amino acid sequence between the signal sequence and mature protease that is necessary for the secretion of the protease. Cleavage of the pro sequence will result in a mature active protease.
• signal sequence refers to any sequence of nucleotides and/or amino acids which may participate in the secretion of the mature or precursor forms of the protein.
• This definition of signal sequence is a functional one, meant to include all those amino acid sequences encoded by the N-terminal portion of the protein gene, which participate in the effectuation of the secretion of protein. They are often, but not universally, bound to the N-terminal portion of a protein or to the N-terminal portion of a precursor protein.
• the signal sequence may be endogenous or exogenous.
• the signal sequence may be that normally associated with the protein (e.g., protease), or may be from a gene encoding another secreted protein.
• One exemplary exogenous signal sequence comprises the first seven amino acid residues of the signal sequence from Bacillus subtilis subtilisin fused to the remainder of the signal sequence of the subtilisin from Bacillus lentus (ATCC 21536).
• hybrid signal sequence refers to signal sequences in which part of sequence is obtained from the expression host fused to the signal sequence of the gene to be expressed. In some embodiments, synthetic sequences are utilized.
• substantially the same signal activity refers to the signal activity, as indicated by substantially the same secretion of the protease into the fermentation medium, for example a fermentation medium protease level being at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80%, at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 98% of the secreted protease levels in the fermentation medium as provided by the signal sequence of SEQ ID NOS:5 and/or 9.
• mature form of a protein or peptide refers to the final functional form of the protein or peptide.
• a mature form of the protease of the present invention at least includes the amino acid sequence identical to residue positions 1-189 of SEQ ID NO:8.
• precursor form of a protein or peptide refers to a mature form of the protein having a prosequence operably linked to the amino or carbonyl terminus of the protein.
• the precursor may also have a "signal" sequence operably linked, to the amino terminus of the prosequence.
• the precursor may also have additional polynucleotides that are involved in post-translational activity (e.g., polynucleotides cleaved therefrom to leave the mature form of a protein or peptide).
• Naturally occurring enzyme refers to an enzyme having the unmodified amino acid sequence identical to that found in nature.
• Naturally occurring enzymes include native enzymes, those enzymes naturally expressed or found in the particular microorganism.
• the terms "derived from” and “obtained from” refer to not only a protease produced or producible by a strain of the organism in question, but also a protease encoded by a DNA sequence isolated from such strain and produced in a host organism containing such DNA sequence. Additionally, the term refers to a protease which is encoded by a DNA sequence of synthetic and/or cDNA origin and which has the identifying characteristics of the protease in question.
• proteases derived from Cellulomonas refers to those enzymes having proteolytic activity which are naturally-produced by Cellulomonas, as well as to serine proteases like those produced by Cellulomonas sources but which through the use of genetic engineering techniques are produced by organisms transformed with a nucleic acid encoding said serine proteases.
• a “derivative" within the scope of this definition generally retains the characteristic proteolytic activity observed in the wild-type, native or parent form to the extent that the derivative is useful for similar purposes as the wild-type, native or parent form.
• Functional derivatives of serine protease encompass naturally occurring, synthetically or recombinantly produced peptides or peptide fragments which have the general characteristics of the serine protease of the present invention.
• the term "functional derivative” refers to a derivative of a nucleic acid which has the functional characteristics of a nucleic acid which encodes serine protease.
• Functional derivatives of a nucleic acid which encode serine protease of the present invention encompass naturally occurring, synthetically or recombinantly produced nucleic acids or fragments and encode serine protease characteristic of the present invention.
• Wild type nucleic acid encoding serine proteases according to the invention include naturally occurring alleles and homologues based on the degeneracy of the genetic code known in the art.
• nucleic acid or polypeptide sequences refers to the residues in the two sequences that are the same when aligned for maximum correspondence, as measured using one of the following sequence comparison or analysis algorithms.
• sequence comparison or analysis algorithms refers to the alignment giving the highest percent identity score.
• Percent sequence identity refers to the percentage of residues that are identical in the two sequences when the sequences are optimally aligned. Thus, 80% amino acid sequence identity means that 80% of the amino acids in two optimally aligned polypeptide sequences are identical.
• substantially identical in the context of two nucleic acids or polypeptides thus refers to a polynucleotide or polypeptide that comprising at least 70% sequence identity, preferably at least 75%, preferably at least 80%, preferably at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, preferably at least 95% , preferably at least 97% , preferably at least 98% and preferably at least 99% sequence identity as compared to a reference sequence using the programs or algorithms (e.g., BLAST, ALIGN, CLUSTAL) using standard parameters.
• One indication that two polypeptides are substantially identical is that the first polypeptide is immunologically cross-reactive with the second polypeptide.
• polypeptides that differ by conservative amino acid substitutions are immunologically cross-reactive.
• a polypeptide is substantially identical to a second polypeptide, for example, where the two peptides differ only by a conservative substitution.
• Another indication that two nucleic acid sequences are substantially identical is that the two molecules hybridize to each other under stringent conditions (e.g., within a range of medium to high stringency).
• equivalent refers to serine proteases enzymes that are encoded by a polynucleotide capable of hybridizing to the polynucleotide having the sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO:1, under conditions of medium to maximal stringency.
• being equivalent means that an equivalent mature serine protease comprises at least 70%, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 91%, at least 92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98% and/or at least 99% sequence identity to the mature Cellulomonas serine protease having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:8.
• isolated refers to a material that is removed from its original environment (e.g., the natural environment if it is naturally occurring).
• the material is said to be “purified” when it is present in a particular composition in a higher or lower concentration than exists in a naturally occurring or wild type organism or in combination with components not normally present upon expression from a naturally occurring or wild type organism.
• a naturally-occurring polynucleotide or polypeptide present in a living animal is not isolated, but the same polynucleotide or polypeptide, separated from some or all of the coexisting materials in the natural system, is isolated.
• Such polynucleotides could be part of a vector, and/or such polynucleotides or polypeptides could be part of a composition, and still be isolated in that such vector or composition is not part of its natural environment.
• a nucleic acid or protein is said to be purified, for example, if it gives rise to essentially one band in an electrophoretic gel or blot.
• isolated when used in reference to a DNA sequence, refers to a DNA sequence that has been removed from its natural genetic milieu and is thus free of other extraneous or unwanted coding sequences, and is in a form suitable for use within genetically engineered protein production systems. Such isolated molecules are those that are separated from their natural environment and include cDNA and genomic clones. Isolated DNA molecules of the present invention are free of other genes with which they are ordinarily associated, but may include naturally occurring 5' and 3' untranslated regions such as promoters and terminators. The identification of associated regions will be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art (See e.g., Dynan and Tijan, Nature 316:774-78 [1985]).
• an isolated DNA sequence is alternatively referred to as "a cloned DNA sequence".
• isolated when used in reference to a protein, refers to a protein that is found in a condition other than its native environment. In a preferred form, the isolated protein is substantially free of other proteins, particularly other homologous proteins.
• An isolated protein is more than 10% pure, preferably more than 20% pure, and even more preferably more than 30% pure, as determined by SDS-PAGE. Further aspects of the invention encompass the protein in a highly purified form (i.e., more than 40% pure, more than 60% pure, more than 80% pure, more than 90% pure, more than 95% pure, more than97% pure, and even more than 99% pure), as determined by SDS-PAGE.
• combinatorial mutagenesis refers to methods in which libraries of variants of a starting sequence are generated.
• the variants contain one or several mutations chosen from a predefined set of mutations.
• the methods provide means to introduce random mutations which were not members of the predefined set of mutations.
• the methods include those set forth in U.S. Patent Appln. Ser. No. 09/699.250, filed October 26, 2000, hereby incorporated by reference.
• combinatorial mutagenesis methods encompass commercially available kits (e.g., QuikChange® Multisite, Stratagene, San Diego, CA).
• the term “library of mutants” refers to a population of cells which are identical in most of their genome but include different homologues of one or more genes. Such libraries can be used, for example, to identify genes or operons with improved traits.
• the term “starting gene” refers to a gene of interest that encodes a protein of interest that is to be improved and/or changed using the present invention.
• the term “multiple sequence alignment” (“MSA”) refers to the sequences of multiple homologs of a starting gene that are aligned using an algorithm (e.g., Clustal W).
• the terms “consensus sequence” and “canonical sequence” refer to an archetypical amino acid sequence against which all variants of a particular protein or sequence of interest are compared. The terms also refer to a sequence that sets forth the nucleotides that are most often present in a DNA sequence of interest. For each position of a gene, the consensus sequence gives the amino acid that is most abundant in that position in the MSA.
• the term “consensus mutation” refers to a difference in the sequence of a starting gene and a consensus sequence. Consensus mutations are identified by comparing the sequences of the starting gene and the consensus sequence resulting from an MSA.
• consensus mutations are introduced into the starting gene such that it becomes more similar to the consensus sequence.
• Consensus mutations also include amino acid changes that change an amino acid in a starting gene to an amino acid that is more frequently found in an MSA at that position relative to the frequency of that amino acid in the starting gene.
• consensus mutation comprises all single amino acid changes that replace an amino acid of the starting gene with an amino acid that is more abundant than the amino acid in the MSA.
• initial hit refers to a variant that was identified by screening a combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library.
• initial hits have improved performance characteristics, as compared to the starting gene.
• improved hit refers to a variant that was identified by screening an enhanced combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library.
• the terms “improving mutation” and “performance-enhancing mutation” refer to a mutation that leads to improved performance when it is introduced into the starting gene.
• these mutations are identified by sequencing hits that were identified during the screening step of the method. In most embodiments, mutations that are more frequently found in hits are likely to be improving mutations, as compared to an unscreened combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library.
• the term "enhanced combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library” refers to a CCM library that is designed and constructed based on screening and/or sequencing results from an earlier round of CCM mutagenesis and screening.
• the enhanced CCM library is based on the sequence of an initial hit resulting from an earlier round of CCM.
• the enhanced CCM is designed such that mutations that were frequently observed in initial hits from earlier rounds of mutagenesis and screening are favored. In some preferred embodiments, this is accomplished by omitting primers that encode performance-reducing mutations or by increasing the concentration of primers that encode performance-enhancing mutations relative to other primers that were used in earlier CCM libraries.
• performance-reducing mutations refer to mutations in the combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library that are less frequently found in hits resulting from screening as compared to an unscreened combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library.
• the screening process removes and/or reduces the abundance of variants that contain "performance-reducing mutations.”
• the term "functional assay” refers to an assay that provides an indication of a protein's activity.
• the term refers to assay systems in which a protein is analyzed for its ability to function in its usual capacity.
• a functional assay involves determining the effectiveness of the enzyme in catalyzing a reaction.
• target property refers to the property of the starting gene that is to be altered. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular target property. However, in some preferred embodiments, the target property is the stability of a gene product (e.g., resistance to denaturation, proteolysis or other degradative factors), while in other embodiments, the level of production in a production host is altered. Indeed, it is contemplated that any property of a starting gene will find use in the present invention.
• properties include, but are not limited to, a property affecting binding to a polypeptide, a property conferred on a cell comprising a particular nucleic acid, a property affecting gene transcription (e.g., promoter strength, promoter recognition, promoter regulation, enhancer function), a property affecting RNA processing (e.g., RNA splicing, RNA stability, RNA conformation, and post-transcriptional modification), a property affecting translation (e.g., level, regulation, binding of mRNA to ribosomal proteins, post- translational modification).
• a binding site for a transcription factor, polymerase, regulatory factor, etc., of a nucleic acid may be altered to produce desired characteristics or to identify undesirable characteristics.
• polypeptide refers to any characteristic or attribute of a polypeptide that can be selected or detected. These properties include, but are not limited to oxidative stability, substrate specificity, catalytic activity, thermal stability, alkaline stability, pH activity profile, resistance to proteolytic degradation, K M , k cat , k cat /k ratio, protein folding, inducing an immune response, ability to bind to a ligand, ability to bind to a receptor, ability to be secreted, ability to be displayed on the surface of a cell, ability to oligomerize, ability to signal, ability to stimulate cell proliferation, ability to inhibit cell proliferation, ability to induce apoptosis, ability to be modified by phosphorylation or glycosylation, ability to treat disease.
• the term "screening" has its usual meaning in the art and is, in general a multi-step process.
• a mutant nucleic acid or variant polypeptide therefrom is provided.
• a property of the mutant nucleic acid or variant polypeptide is determined.
• the determined property is compared to a property of the corresponding precursor nucleic acid, to the property of the corresponding naturally occurring polypeptide or to the property of the starting material (e.g., the initial sequence) for the generation of the mutant nucleic acid.
• the screening procedure for obtaining a nucleic acid or protein with an altered property depends upon the property of the starting material the modification of which the generation of the mutant nucleic acid is intended to facilitate.
• the skilled artisan will therefore appreciate that the invention is not limited to any specific property to be screened for and that the following description of properties lists illustrative examples only. Methods for screening for any particular property are generally described in the art. For example, one can measure binding, pH, specificity, etc., before and after mutation, wherein a change indicates an alteration.
• the screens are performed in a high-throughput manner, including multiple samples being screened simultaneously, including, but not limited to assays utilizing chips, phage display, and multiple substrates and/or indicators.
• screens encompass selection steps in which variants of interest are enriched from a population of variants.
• these embodiments include the selection of variants that confer a growth advantage to the host organism, as well as phage display or any other method of display, where variants can be captured from a population of variants based on their binding or catalytic properties.
• a library of variants is exposed to stress (heat, protease, denaturation) and subsequently variants that are still intact are identified in a screen or enriched by selection. It is intended that the term encompass any suitable means for selection. Indeed, it is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular method of screening.
• targeted randomization refers to a process that produces a plurality of sequences where one or several positions have been randomized.
• randomization is complete (i.e., all four nucleotides, A, T, G, and C can occur at a randomized position.
• randomization of a nucleotide is limited to a subset of the four nucleotides.
• Targeted randomization can be applied to one or several codons of a sequence, coding for one or several proteins of interest. When expressed, the resulting libraries produce protein populations in which one or more amino acid positions can contain a mixture of all 20 amino acids or a subset of amino acids, as determined by the randomization scheme of the randomized codon.
• the individual members of a population resulting from targeted randomization differ in the number of amino acids, due to targeted or random insertion or deletion of codons.
• synthetic amino acids are included in the protein populations produced.
• the majority of members of a population resulting from targeted randomization show greater sequence homology to the consensus sequence than the starting gene.
• the sequence encodes one or more proteins fo interest.
• the proteins have differing biological functions.
• the incoming sequence comprises at least one selectable marker.
• modified sequence and “modified genes” are used interchangeably herein to refer to a sequence that includes a deletion, insertion or interruption of naturally occurring nucleic acid sequence.
• the expression product of the modified sequence is a truncated protein (e.g., if the modification is a deletion or interruption of the sequence).
• the truncated protein retains biological activity.
• the expression product of the modified sequence is an elongated protein (e.g., modifications comprising an insertion into the nucleic acid sequence).
• an insertion leads to a truncated protein (e.g., when the insertion results in the formation of a stop codon).
• an insertion may result in either a truncated protein or an elongated protein as an expression product.
• mutant sequence and “mutant gene” are used interchangeably and refer to a sequence that has an alteration in at least one codon occurring in a host cell's wild-type sequence.
• the expression product of the mutant sequence is a protein with an altered amino acid sequence relative to the wild-type.
• the expression product may have an altered functional capacity (e.g., enhanced enzymatic activity).
• mutagenic primer or “mutagenic oligonucleotide” (used interchangeably herein) are intended to refer to oligonucleotide compositions which correspond to a portion of the template sequence and which are capable of hybridizing thereto. With respect to mutagenic primers, the primer will not precisely match the template nucleic acid, the mismatch or mismatches in the primer being used to introduce the desired mutation into the nucleic acid library.
• non-mutagenic primer or “non-mutagenic oligonucleotide” refers to oligonucleotide compositions which will. match precisely to the template nucleic acid. In one embodiment of the invention, only mutagenic primers are used.
• the primers are designed so that for at least one region at which a mutagenic primer has been included, there is also non- mutagenic primer included in the oligonucleotide mixture.
• the non-mutagenic primers provide the ability to obtain a specific level of non-mutant members within the nucleic acid library for a given residue.
• the methods of the invention employ mutagenic and non-mutagenic oligonucleotides which are generally between 10-50 bases in length, more preferably about 15-45 bases in length. However, it may be necessary to use primers that are either shorter than 10 bases or longer than 50 bases to obtain the mutagenesis result desired. With respect to corresponding mutagenic and non-mutagenic primers, it is not necessary that the corresponding oligonucleotides be of identical length, but only that there is overlap in the region corresponding to the mutation to be added.
• Primers may be added in a pre-defined ratio according to the present invention. For example, if it is desired that the resulting library have a significant level of a certain specific mutation and a lesser amount of a different mutation at the same or different site, by adjusting the amount of primer added, it is possible to produce the desired biased library. Alternatively, by adding lesser or greater amounts of non-mutagenic primers, it is possible to adjust the frequency with which the corresponding mutation(s) are produced in the mutant nucleic acid library.
• the phrase "contiguous mutations” refers to mutations which are presented within the same oligonucleotide primer. For example, contiguous mutations may be adjacent or nearby each other, however, they will be introduced into the resulting mutant template nucleic acids by the same primer.
• the phrase “discontiguous mutations” refers to mutations which are presented in separate oligonucleotide primers. For example, discontiguous mutations will be introduced into the resulting mutant template nucleic acids by separately prepared oligonucleotide primers.
• wild-type sequence or “wild-type gene” are used interchangeably herein, to refer to a sequence that is native or naturally occurring in a host cell.
• the wild-type sequence refers to a sequence of interest that is the starting point of a protein engineering project.
• the wild-type sequence may encode either a homologous or heterologous protein.
• a homologous protein is one the host cell would produce without intervention.
• a heterologous protein is one that the host cell would not produce but for the intervention.
• antibodies refers to immunoglobulins. Antibodies include but are not limited to immunoglobulins obtained directly from any species from which it is desirable to produce antibodies. In addition, the present invention encompasses modified antibodies. The term also refers to antibody fragments that retain the ability to bind to the epitope that the intact antibody binds and include polyclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibodies, chimeric antibodies, anti-idiotype (anti-ID) antibodies. Antibody fragments include, but are not limited to the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs), single-chain fragment variable regions (scFv), heavy chain variable region (VH), light chain variable region (VL). Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies are also encompassed by the present invention. Preferably, the antibodies are monoclonal antibodies.
• CDRs complementarity-determining regions
• scFv single-chain fragment variable regions
• VH heavy chain variable region
• VL light chain variable region
• Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies are also encompassed by the present invention.
• oxidation stable refers to proteases of the present invention that retain a specified amount of enzymatic activity over a given period of time under conditions prevailing during the proteolytic, hydrolyzing, cleaning or other process of the invention, for example while exposed to or contacted with bleaching agents or oxidizing agents.
• the proteases retain at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% proteolytic activity after contact with a bleaching or oxidizing agent over a given time period, for example, at least 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 12 minutes, 16 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.
• the stability is measured as described in the Examples.
• chelator stable refers to proteases of the present invention that retain a specified amount of enzymatic activity over a given period of time under conditions prevailing during the proteolytic, hydrolyzing, cleaning or other process of the invention, for example while exposed to or contacted with chelating agents.
• the proteases retain at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% proteolytic activity after contact with a chelating agent over a given time period, for example, at least 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes, 100 minutes, etc.
• the chelator stability is measured as described in the Examples.
• thermostability refers to proteases of the present invention that retain a specified amount of enzymatic activity after exposure to identified temperatures over a given period of time under conditions prevailing during the proteolytic, hydrolyzing, cleaning or other process of the invention, for example while exposed altered temperatures. Altered temperatures includes increased or decreased temperatures.
• the proteases retain at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% proteolytic activity after exposure to altered temperatures over a given time period, for example, at least 60 minutes, 120 minutes, 180 minutes, 240 minutes, 300 minutes, etc.
• the thermostability is determined as described in the Examples.
• enhanced stability in the context of an oxidation, chelator, thermal and/or pH stable protease refers to a higher retained proteolytic activity over time as compared to other serine proteases (e.g., subtilisin proteases) and/or wild-type enzymes.
• serine proteases e.g., subtilisin proteases
• diminished stability in the context of an oxidation, chelator, thermal and/or pH stable protease refers to a lower retained proteolytic activity over time as compared to other serine proteases (e.g., subtilisin proteases) and/or wild-type enzymes.
• serine proteases e.g., subtilisin proteases
• cleaning activity refers to the cleaning performance achieved by the protease under conditions prevailing during the proteolytic, hydrolyzing, cleaning or other process of the invention.
• cleaning performance is determined by the application of various cleaning assays concerning enzyme sensitive stains, for example grass, blood, milk, or egg protein as determined by various chromatographic, spectrophotometric or other quantitative methodologies after subjection of the stains to standard wash conditions.
• Exemplary assays include, but are not limited to those described in WO 99/34011, and U.S. Pat. 6,605,458 (both of which are herein incorporated by reference), as well as those methods included in the Examples.
• cleaning effective amount of a protease refers to the quantity of protease described hereinbefore that achieves a desired level of enzymatic activity in a specific cleaning composition. Such effective amounts are readily ascertained by one of ordinary skill in the art and are based on many factors, such as the particular protease used, the cleaning application, the specific composition of the cleaning composition, and whether a liquid or dry (e.g., granular, bar) composition is required, etc.
• cleaning adjunct materials means any liquid, solid or gaseous material selected for the particular type of cleaning composition desired and the form of the product (e.g., liquid, granule, powder, bar, paste, spray, tablet, gel; or foam composition), which materials are also preferably compatible with the protease enzyme used in the composition.
• granular compositions are in "compact” form, while in other embodiments, the liquid compositions are in a "concentrated” form.
• enhanced performance in the context of cleaning activity refers to an increased or greater cleaning activity of certain enzyme sensitive stains such as egg, milk, grass or blood, as determined by usual evaluation after a standard wash cycle and/or multiple wash cycles.
• diminished performance in the context of cleaning activity refers to an decreased or lesser cleaning activity of certain enzyme sensitive stains such as egg, milk, grass or blood, as determined by usual evaluation after a standard wash cycle.
• subtilisin protease e.g., commercially available proteases
• OPTIMASETM protease Genencor
• PURAFECT TM protease products Genencor
• SAVINASE SAVINASE TM protease (Novozymes)
• BPN'-variants See e.g., U.S. Pat. No.
• Re 34,606 RELASETM, DURAZYMETM, EVERLASETM, KANNASE TM protease (Novozymes), MAXACALTM, MAXAPEMTM, PROPERASE TM proteases (Genencor; See also, U.S. Pat. No. Re 34,606, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,700,676; 5,955,340; 6,312,936; 6,482,628), and B. lentus variant protease products [for example those described in WO 92/21760, WO 95/23221 and/or WO 97/07770 (Henkel).
• Exemplary subtilisin protease variants include, but are not limited to those having substitutions or deletions at residue positions equivalent to positions 76, 101 , 103, 104, 120, 159, 167, 170, 194, 195, 217, 232, 235, 236, 245, 248, and/or 252 of BPN'.
• Cleaning performance can be determined by comparing the proteases of the present invention with those subtilisin proteases in various cleaning assays concerning enzyme sensitive stains such as grass, blood or milk as determined by usual spectrophotometric or analytical methodologies after standard wash cycle conditions.
• a "low detergent concentration" system includes detergents where less than about 800 ppm of detergent components are present in the wash water.
• Japanese detergents are typically considered low detergent concentration systems, as they have usually have approximately 667 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.
• a "medium detergent concentration” systems includes detergents wherein between about 800 ppm and about 2000ppm of detergent components are present in the wash water.
• North American detergents are generally considered to be medium detergent concentration systems as they have usually approximately 975 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.
• Brazilian detergents typically have approximately 1500 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.
• high detergent concentration systems includes detergents wherein greater than about 2000 ppm of detergent components are present in the wash water. European detergents are generally considered to be high detergent concentration systems as they have approximately 3000-8000 ppm of detergent components in the wash water.
• fabric cleaning compositions include hand and machine laundry detergent compositions including laundry additive compositions and compositions suitable for use in the soaking and/or pretreatment of stained fabrics (e.g., clothes, linens, and other textile materials).
• non-fabric cleaning compositions include non-textile (i.e., fabric) surface cleaning compositions, including but not limited to dishwashing detergent compositions, oral cleaning compositions, denture cleaning compositions, and personal cleansing compositions.
• inorganic filler salts are conventional ingredients of detergent compositions in powder form.
• the filler salts are present in substantial amounts, typically 17-35% by weight of the total composition.
• the filler salt is present in amounts not exceeding 15% of the total composition.
• the filler salt is present in amounts that do not exceed 10%, or more preferably, 5%, by weight of the composition.
• the inorganic filler salts are selected from the alkali and alkaline-earth-metal salts of sulfates and chlorides.
• a preferred filler salt is sodium sulfate.
• Serine Protease Enzymes and Nucleic Acid Encoding Serine Protease Enzymes The present invention provides isolated polynucleotides encoding amino acid sequences, encoding proteases. In some embodiments, these polynucleotides comprise at least 65% amino acid sequence identity, preferably at least 70% amino acid sequence identity, more preferably at least 75% amino acid sequence identity, still more preferably at least 80% amino acid sequence identity, more preferably at least 85% amino acid sequence identity, even more preferably at least 90% amino acid sequence identity, more preferably at least 92% amino acid sequence identity, yet more preferably at least 95% amino acid sequence identity, more preferably at least 97% amino acid sequence identity, still more preferably at least 98% amino acid sequence identity, and most preferably at least 99% amino acid sequence identity to an amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NOS:6-8, (e.g., at least a portion of the amino acid sequence encoded by the polynucleotide having proteolytic activity, including the mature protease cata
• the percent identity is determined by a direct comparison of the sequence information between two molecules by aligning the sequences, counting the exact number of matches between the two aligned sequences, dividing by the length of the shorter sequence, and multiplying the result by 100.
• Readily available computer programs find use in these analysis, such as those described above.
• Programs for determining nucleotide sequence identity are available in the Wisconsin Sequence Analysis Package, Version 8 (Genetics Computer Group, Madison, WI) for example, the BESTFIT, FASTA and GAP programs, which also rely on the Smith and Waterman algorithm. These programs are readily utilized with the default parameters recommended by the manufacturer and described in the Wisconsin Sequence Analysis Package referred to above.
• HSPs high scoring sequence pairs
• the word hits are expanded in both directions along each of the two sequences being compared for as far as the cumulative alignment score can be increased. Extension of the word hits is stopped when: the cumulative alignment score falls off by the quantity X from a maximum achieved value; the cumulative score goes to zero or below; or the end of either sequence is reached.
• the BLAST algorithm parameters W, T, and X determine the sensitivity and speed of the alignment.
• the BLAST program uses as defaults a wordlength (W) of 11 , the BLOSUM62 scoring matrix (See, Henikoff & Henikoff, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 10915 (1989)) alignments (B) of 50, expectation (E) of 10, M'5, N'-4, and a comparison of both strands.
• the BLAST algorithm then performs a statistical analysis of the similarity between two sequences (See e.g., Karlin and Altschul, Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 90:5873-5787 [1993]).
• One measure of similarity provided by the BLAST algorithm is the smallest sum probability (P(N)), which provides an indication of the probability by which a match between two nucleotide or amino acid sequences would occur by chance.
• a nucleic acid is considered similar to a serine protease nucleic acid of this invention if the smallest sum probability in a comparison of the test nucleic acid to a serine protease nucleic acid is less than about 0.1 , more preferably less than about 0.01 , and most preferably less than about 0.001.
• the test nucleic acid encodes a serine protease polypeptide
• it is considered similar to a specified serine protease nucleic acid if the comparison results in a smallest sum probability of less than about 0.5, and more preferably less than about 0.2.
• sequences were analyzed by BLAST and protein translation sequence tools.
• the preferred version was BLAST (Basic BLAST version 2.0).
• the program chosen was "BlastX”, and the database chosen was "nr”. Standard/default parameter values were employed.
• the present invention encompasses the approximately 1621 base pairs in length polynucleotide set forth in SEQ. ID NO:1.
• a start codon is shown in bold in SEQ ID NO:1.
• the polynucleotides encoding these amino acid sequences comprise a 1485 base pair portion (residues 1-1485 of SEQ ID NO:2) that, if expressed, is believed to encode a signal sequence (nucleotides 1-84 of SEQ ID NO:5) encoding amino acids 1-28 of SEQ ID NO:9; an N-terminal prosequence (nucleotides 84-594 encoding amino acid residues 29-198 of SEQ ID NO:6); a mature protease sequence (nucleotides 595-1161 of SEQ ID NO:2 encoding amino acid residues 1-189 of SEQ ID NO:8); and a C-terminal pro-sequence (nucleotides 1162-1486 encoding amino acid
• the signal peptide, the N-terminal pro-sequence, mature serine protease sequence and C-terminal pro-sequence is numbered in relation to the amino acid residues of the mature protease of SEQ ID NO:6 being numbered 1-189, i.e., signal peptide (residues -198 to -171 ), an N-terminal pro sequence (residues -171 to -1), the mature serine protease sequence (residues 1-189) and a C-terminal pro-sequence (residues 190-298).
• the polynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence having proteolytic activity comprises a nucleotide sequence of nucleotides 1 to 1485 of the portion of SEQ ID NO:2 encoding the signal peptide and precursor protease.
• the polynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence comprises the sequence of nucleotides 1 to 1412 of the polynucleotide encoding the precursor Cellulomonas protease (SEQ ID NO:3).
• the polynucleotide encoding an amino acid sequence comprises the sequence of nucleotides 1 to 587 of the portion of the polynucleotide encoding the mature Cellulomonas protease (SEQ ID NO:4).
• polynucleotides can encode the signal peptide, precursor protease and/or mature protease provided in SEQ ID NOS:6, 7, and/or 8, respectively, or a protease having the % sequence identity described above.
• Another embodiment of the present invention encompasses a polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence having at least 70% sequence identity, at least 75% sequence identity, at least 80% sequence identity, at least 85% sequence identity, at least 90% sequence identity, at least 92% sequence identity, at least 95% sequence identity, at least 97% sequence identity, at least 98% sequence identity and at least 99% sequence identity to the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NOS:2, 3, and/or 4, respectively, encoding the signal peptide and precursor protease, the precursor protease and/or the mature protease, respectively.
• the present invention provides fragments or portions of DNA that encodes proteases, so long as the encoded fragment retains proteolytic activity.
• Another embodiment of the present invention encompasses polynucleotides having at least 20% of the sequence length, at least 30% of the sequence length, at least 40% of the sequence length, at least 50% of the sequence length, at least 60% of the sequence length, 70% of the sequence length, at least 75% of the sequence length, at least 80% of the sequence length, at least 85% of the sequence length, at least 90% of the sequence length, at least 92% of the sequence length, at least 95% of the sequence length, at least 97% of the sequence length, at least 98% of the sequence length and at least 99% of the sequence of the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, or residues 185-1672 of SEQ ID NO:1, encoding the precursor protease.
• these fragments or portions of the sequence length are contiguous portions of the sequence length, useful for shuffling of the DNA sequence in recombinant DNA sequences (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,970)
• Another embodiment of the invention includes fragments of the DNA described herein that find use according to art recognized techniques in obtaining partial length DNA fragments capable of being used to isolate or identify polynucleotides encoding mature protease enzyme described herein from Cellulomonas 69B4, or a segment thereof having proteolytic activity.
• the DNA provided in SEQ ID NO:1 finds use in identifying homologous fragments of DNA from other species, and particularly from Cellulomonas spp. which encode a protease or portion thereof having proteolytic activity.
• the present invention encompasses using primer or probe sequences constructed from SEQ ID NO:1 , or a suitable portion or fragment thereof (e.g., at least about 5-20 or 10-15 contiguous nucleotides), as a probe or primer for screening nucleic acid of either genomic or cDNA origin.
• the present invention provides DNA probes of the desired length (i.e., generally between 100 and 1000 bases in length), based on the sequences in SEQ ID NOS1 , 2, 3, and/or 4.
• the DNA fragments are electrophoretically isolated, cut from the gel, and recovered from the agar matrix of the gel.
• this purified fragment of DNA is then labeled (using, for example, the Megaprime labeling system according to the instructions of the manufacturer) to incorporate P 32 in the DNA.
• the labeled probe is denatured by heating to 95 ° C for a given period of time (e.g., 5 minutes), and immediately added to the membrane and prehybridization solution.
• the hybridization reaction proceeds for an appropriate time and under appropriate conditions (e.g., 18 hours at 37 °C), with gentle shaking or rotation.
• the membrane is rinsed (e.g., twice in SSC/0.3% SDS) and then washed in an appropriate wash solution with gentle agitation.
• the stringency desired is a reflection of the conditions under which the membrane (filter) is washed.
• “low-stringency” conditions involve washing with a solution of 0.2X SSC/0.1% SDS at 20°C for 15 minutes
• “medium-stringency” conditions involve a further washing step comprising washing with a solution of 0.2X SSC/0.1% SDS at 37 ° C for 30 minutes
• “high-stringency” conditions involve a further washing step comprising washing with a solution of 0.2X SSC/0.1% SDS at 37 ° C for 45 minutes
• “maximum-stringency” conditions involve a further washing step comprising washing with a solution of 0.2X SSC/0.1% SDS at 37 ° C for 60 minutes.
• various embodiments of the present invention provide polynucleotides capable of hybridizing to a probed derived from the nucleotide sequence provided in SEQ ID NOS:1, 2, 3, 4, and/or 5, under conditions of medium, high and/or maximum stringency.
• the membrane After washing, the membrane is dried and the bound probe detected. If P 32 or another radioisotope is used as the labeling agent, the bound probe is detected by autoradiography. Other techniques for the visualization of other probes are welLknown to those of skill in the art.
• the detection of a bound probe indicates a nucleic acid sequence has the desired homology, and therefore identity to SEQ ID NOS:1 , 2, 3, 4, and/or 5, and is encompassed by the present invention.
• the present invention provides methods for the detection of nucleic acid encoding a protease encompassed by the present invention which comprises hybridizing part or all of a nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NOS:1 , 2, 3, 4, and/or 5 with other nucleic acid of either genomic or cDNA origin.
• hybridization conditions are based on the melting temperature (Tm) of the nucleic acid binding complex, to confer a defined “stringency” as explained below.
• Tm melting temperature
• “Maximum stringency” typically occurs at about Tm-5°C (5°C below the Tm of the probe); “high stringency” at about 5 ° C to 10 ° C below Tm;
• intermediate stringency at about 10°C to 20°C below Tm
• low stringency at about 20 ° C to 25°C below Tm.
• medium, high and/or maximum stringency hybridization are chosen such that conditions are optimized to identify or detect polynucleotide sequence homologues or equivalent polynucleotide sequences.
• the present invention provides nucleic acid constructs
• the present invention provides host cells transformed with at least one of these vectors.
• the present invention provides polynucleotide sequences further encoding a signal sequence.
• invention encompasses polynucleotides having signal activity comprising a nucleotide sequence having at least 65% sequence identity, at least 70% sequence identity, preferably at least 75% sequence identity, more preferably at least 80% sequence identity, still further preferably at least 85% sequence identity, even more preferably at least 90% sequence identity, more preferably at least 95% sequence identity, more preferably at least 97% sequence identity, at least 98% sequence identity, and most preferably at least 99% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:5.
• the present invention provides a sequence with a putative signal sequence, and polynucleotides being capable of hybridizing to a probe derived from the nucleotide sequence disclosed in SEQ ID NO:5 under conditions of medium, high and/or maximal stringency, wherein the signal sequences have substantially the same signal activity as the signal sequence encoded by the polynucleotide of the present invention.
• the signal activity is indicated by substantially the same level of secretion of the protease into the fermentation medium, as the starting material.
• the present invention provides fermentation medium protease levels at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80%, at least 90%, at least 95%, or at least 98% of the secreted protease levels in the fermentation medium as provided by the signal sequence of SEQ ID NO:3.
• the secreted protease levels are ascertained by protease activity analyses such as the pNA assay (See
• Additional means for determining the levels of secretion of a heterologous or homologous protein in a Gram-positive host cell and detecting secreted proteins include using either polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies specific for the protein. Examples include enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), radioimmunoassay (RIA) and fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS), as well-known those in the art.
• ELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
• RIA radioimmunoassay
• FACS fluorescent activated cell sorting
• the present invention provides polynucleotides, encoding an amino acid sequence of a signal peptide (nucleotides 1-84 of SEQ ID NO:5), as shown in SEQ ID NO:9, nucleotide residue positions 1 to 85 of SEQ ID NO:2, and /or SEQ ID NO:5.
• the invention further encompasses nucleic acid sequences which hybridize to the nucleic acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:5 under low, medium, high stringency and/or maximums stringency conditions, but which have substantially the same signal activity as the sequence.
• the present invention encompasses all such polynucleotides.
• the present invention provides polynucleotides that are complementary to the nucleotide sequences described herein.
• Exemplary complementary nucleotide sequences include those that are provided in SEQ ID NOS:1-5.
• Further aspects of the present invention encompass polypeptides having proteolytic activity comprising 65% amino acid sequence identity, at least 70% sequence identity, at least 75% amino acid sequence identity, at least 80% amino acid sequence identity, at least 85% amino acid sequence identity, at least 90% amino acid sequence identity, at least 92% amino acid sequence identity, at least 95% amino acid sequence identity, at least 97%5 amino acid sequence identity, at least 98% amino acid sequence identity and at least 99% amino acid sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6 (i.e., the signal and precursor protease), SEQ ID NO:7 (i.e., the precursor protease), and/or of SEQ ID NO:8 (i.e., the mature protease).
• SEQ ID NO: 6 i.e., the signal and precursor
• polypeptides are isolated.
• polypeptides comprise amino acid sequences that identical to amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOS:6, 7, or 8.
• polypeptides are identical to portions of SEQ ID NOS:6, 7 or 8.
• the present invention provides isolated polypeptides having proteolytic activity, comprising the amino acid sequence approximately 495 amino acids in length, as provided in SEQ ID NO:6.
• the present invention encompasses polypeptides having proteolytic activity comprising the amino acid sequence 5 approximately 467 amino acids in length provided in SEQ ID NO:7.
• these amino acid sequences comprise a signal sequence (amino acids 1-28 of SEQ ID NO:9); and a precursor protease (amino acids 1-467 of SEQ ID NO:7).
• the present invention encompasses polypeptides comprising an N-terminal prosequence (amino acids 1-170 of SEQ ID NO:7), a mature protease sequence (aminoo acids 1-189 of SEQ ID NO:8), and a C-terminal prosequence (amino acids 360 -467 of SEQ ID NO:7).
• the present invention encompasses polypeptides comprising a precursor protease sequence (e.g., amino acids 1-467 of SEQ ID NO:7). In yet another embodiment, the present invention encompasses polypeptides comprising a mature protease sequence comprising amino acids (e.g., 1-189 of SEQ ID NO:8). 5 In further embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptides and/or proteases comprising amino acid sequences of the above described sequence derived from bacterial species including, but not limited to Micrococcineae which are identified through amino acid sequence homology studies.
• an amino acid residue of a precursor Micrococcineae protease is equivalent to a residue of Cellulomonas strain 69B4, ifo it is either homologous (i.e., corresponding in position in either primary or tertiary structure) or analogous to a specific residue or portion of that residue in Cellulomonas strain 69B4 protease (i.e., having the same or similar functional capacity to combine, react, or interact chemically).
• the amino acid sequence of a precursor protease is directly compared to the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 mature protease amino acid sequence and particularly to a set of conserved residues which are discerned to be invariant in all or a large majority of Cellulomonas like proteases for which sequence is known.
• the residues corresponding to particular amino acids in the mature protease (SEQ ID NO:8) and Cellulomonas 69B4 protease are determined.
• Alignment of conserved residues preferably should conserve 100% of such residues. However, alignment of greater than 75% or as little as 45% of conserved residues is also adequate to define equivalent residues. However, conservation of the catalytic triad, His32/Asp56/Ser137 of SEQ ID NO:8 should be maintained.
• the amino acid sequence of proteases from Cellulomonas strain 69B4, and other Micrococcineae spp. described above are aligned to provide the maximum amount of homology between amino acid sequences. A comparison of these sequences indicates that there are a number of conserved residues contained in each sequence. These are the residues that are identified and utilized to establish the equivalent residue positions of amino acids identified in the precursor or mature Micrococcineae protease in question.
• the equivalent amino acid for the catalytic triad (e.g., in Cellulomonas 69B4 protease) is identifiable in the other Micrococcineae spp.
• the protease homologs comprise the equivalent of His32/Asp56/Ser137 of SEQ ID NO:8.
• Another indication that two polypeptides are substantially identical is that the first polypeptide is immunologically cross-reactive with the second polypeptide. Methodologies for determining immunological cross-reactivity are described in the art and are described in the Examples herein. Typically, polypeptides that differ by conservative amino acid substitutions are immunologically cross-reactive.
• a polypeptide is substantially identical to a second polypeptide, for example, where the two peptides differ only by a conservative substitution.
• the present invention encompasses proteases obtained from various sources.
• the proteases are obtained from bacteria, while in other embodiments, the proteases are obtained from fungi.
• the bacterial source is selected from the members of the suborder Micrococcineae.
• the bacterial source is the family Promicromonosporaceae. In some preferred embodiments, the Promicromonosporaceae spp.
• DSM 43110 includes and/or is selected from the group consisting of Promicromonospora citrea (DSM 43110), Promicromonospora sukumoe (DSM 44121), Promicromonospora aerolata (CCM 7043), Promicromonospora vindobonensis (CCM 7044), Myceligenerans xiligouense (DSM 15700), Isoptericola variabilis (DSM 10177, basonym Cellulosimicrobium variabile), Cellulosimicrobium cellulans (DSM 20424, basonym Nocardia cellulans, Cellulomonas cellulans), Cellulosimicrobium funkei, Xylanimonas cellulosilytica (LMG 20990), Xylanibacterium ulmi (LMG 21721 ), and Xylanimicrobium pachnodae (DSM 12657, basonym Promicromonospora pachnodae
• the bacterial source is the family Cellulomonadaceae.
• the Cellulomonadaceae spp. includes and/or is selected from the group of Cellulomonas fimi (ATCC 484, DSM 20113), Cellulomonas biazotea (ATCC 486, DSM 20112), Cellulomonas cellasea (ATCC 487, 21681, DSM 20118), Cellulomonas denverensis, Cellulomonas hominis (DSM 9581), Cellulomonas flavigena (ATCC 482, DSM 20109), Cellulomonas persica (ATCC 700642, DSM 14784), Cellulomonas iranensis (ATCC 700643, DSM 14785); Cellulomonas fermentans (ATCC 43279, DSM 3133), Cellulomonas gelida (ATCC 488, DSM 20111 , DSM 20110
• the bacterial source also includes and/or is selected from the group of Thermobifida spp., Rarobacter spp., and/or Lysobacter spp.
• the Thermobifida spp. is Thermobifida fusca (basonym Thermomonospora fusca) (tfpA, AAC23545; See, Lao et. al, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 62: 4256-4259 [1996]).
• Lysobacter spp. is Lysobacter enzymogenes.
• the present invention provides polypeptides and/or polynucleotides obtained and/or isolated from fungal sources.
• the fungal source includes a Metarhizium spp.
• the fungal source is a Metarhizium anisopliae (CHY1 (CAB60729).
• the present invention provides polypeptides and/or polynucleotides derived from a Cellulomonas strain selected from cluster 2 of the taxonomic classification described in U.S. Pat. No 5,401,657, herein incorporated by reference.
• a Cellulomonas strain selected from cluster 2 of the taxonomic classification described in U.S. Pat. No 5,401,657, herein incorporated by reference.
• twenty strains of bacteria isolated from in and around alkaline lakes were assigned to the type of bacteria known as Gram-positive bacteria on the basis of: (1) the Dussault modification of the Gram's staining reaction (Dussault, J. Bacteriol., 70:484-485 [1955]); (2) the KOH sensitivity test (Gregersen, Eur. J. Appl. Microbiol.
• the phenetic data consisting of 200 unit characters was scored and set out in the form of an "n.times.t" matrix, whose t columns represent the "t" bacterial strains to be grouped on the basis of resemblances, and whose "n” rows are the unit characters.
• Taxonomic resemblance of the bacterial strains was estimated by means of a similarity coefficient (Sneath and Sokal, supra, pp. 114-187). Although many different coefficients have been used for biological classification, only a few have found regular use in bacteriology. Three association coefficients (See e.g., Sneath and Sokal, supra, at p. 129), namely, the Gower, Jaccard and Simple Matching coefficients were applied. These have been frequently applied to the analysis of bacteriological data and are widely accepted by those skilled in the art, as they have been shown to result in robust classifications.
• the coded data were analyzed using the TAXPAK program package (Sackin, Meth. Microbiol., 19:459-494 [1987]), run on a DEC VAX computer at the University of Leicester, U.K.
• a similarity matrix was constructed for all pairs of strains using the Gower Coefficient (S G ) with the option of permitting negative matches (See, Sneath and Sokal, supra, at pp. 135-136), using the RTBNSIM program in TAXPAK.
• the Gower Coefficient was chosen over other coefficients for generating similarity matrices because it is applicable to all types of characters or data, namely, two-state, multistate (ordered and qualitative), and quantitative.
• dendrograms illustrate the levels of similarity between bacterial strains
• dendrograms are obtained by using the DENDGR program in TAXPAK.
• the phenetic data were re-analyzed using the Jaccard Coefficient (Sj) (Sneath and Sokal, supra, at p.131) and Simple Matching Coefficient (S S ) (Sneath, P.H.A. and Sokal, R.R., ibid, p. 132) by running the RTBNSIM program in TAXPAK.
• Sj Jaccard Coefficient
• S S Simple Matching Coefficient
• An additional two dendrograms were obtained by using the SMATCLST with UPGMA option and DENDGR sub-routines in TAXPAK.
• the significance of the clustering at this level was supported by the results of the TESTDEN program. This program tests the significance of all dichotomous pairs of clusters (comprising 4 or more strains) in a UPGMA generated dendrogram with Squared Euclidean distances, or their complement as a measurement and assuming that the clusters are hyperspherical. The critical overlap was set at 0.25%. The separation of the clusters is highly significant.
• the Sj coefficient is a useful adjunct to the S G coefficient, as it can be used to detect phenons in the latter that are based on negative matches or distortions owing to undue weight being put on potentially subjective qualitative data. Consequently, the Sj coefficient is useful for confirming the validity of clusters defined initially by the use of the S G coefficient.
• the Jaccard Coefficient is particularly useful in comparing biochemically unreactive organisms (Austin and Priest, supra, at p. 37). In addition, there may be some question about the admissibility of matching negative character states (See, Sneath and Sokal, supra, at p. 131), in which case the Simple Matching Coefficient is a widely applied alternative. Strain 69B4 was classified as in cluster 2 by this method.
• the polynucleotide is derived from a bacteria having a 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequence at least 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 88%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 98% sequence identity with the 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequence of Cellulomonas strain 69B4.
• the sequence of the 16S rRNA gene is deposited at GenBank under Accession Number X92152.
• Figure 1 provides an unrooted phylogenetic tree illustrating the relationship of novel strain 69B4 to members of the family Cellulomonadaceae (including Cellulomonas strain 69B4) and other related genera of the suborder Micrococcineae.
• the dendrogram was constructed from aligned 16S rDNA sequences (1374 nt) using TREECONW v.1.3b (Van de Peer and De Wachter, Comput. Appl. Biosci., 10: 569-570 [1994]).
• Distance estimations were calculated using the substitution rate calibration of Jukes and Cantor (Jukes and Cantor, "Evolution of protein molecules," In, Munro (ed.), Mammalian Protein Metabolism. Academic Press, NY, at pp.21-132, [1969]) and tree topology inferred by the Neighbor- Joining algorithm (Saitou and Nei, Mol. Biol. Evol., 4:406-425 [1987]).
• the numbers at the nodes refer to bootstrap values from 100 resampled data sets (Felsenstein, Evol., 39:783- 789 [1985]) and the scale bar indicates 2 nucleotide substitutions in 100 nt.
• the strain 69B4 exhibits the closest 16S rDNA relationship to members of Cellulomonas and Oerskovia of the family Cellulomonadaceae.
• the closest relatives are believed to be C. cellasea (DSM 20118) and C. fimi (DSM 20113), with at least 95% sequence identity with the 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequence of Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (e.g., 96% and 95% identity respectively) to strain 69B4 16S rRNA gene sequence.
• the Cellulomonas spp. is Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM16035).
• the strain also appeared to be negative in standard oxidase, urease, aminopeptidase, and KOH tests. In addition, nitrate was not reduced, although the organisms were catalase positive and DNase was produced under alkaline conditions.
• the preferred temperature range for growth was 20 - 37°C, with an optimum temperature at around 30-37°C. No growth was observed at 15°C or 45°C.
• the strain is alkaliphilic and slightly halophilic.
• the strain may also be characterized as having growth occurring at pH values between 6.0 and 10.5 with an optimum around pH 9-10. No growth was observed at pH 11 or pH 5.5. Growth below pH 7 was less vigorous and abundant than that of cultures grown at the optimal temperature.
• the strain was observed to grow in medium containing 0-8% (w/v) NaCl.
• the strain may also be characterized as a chemo-organotroph, since it grew on complex substrates such as yeast extract and peptone; and hydrolyzed starch, gelatin, casein, carboxymethylcellulose and amorphous cellulose.
• Acid was produced both aerobically and anaerobically from (API 50CH): L- arabinose, D-xylose, D-glucose, D-fructose, D-mannose, rhamnose (weak), cellobiose, maltose, sucrose, trehalose, gentiobiose, D-turanose, D-lyxose and 5-keto-gluconate (weak). Amygdalin, arbutin, salicin and esculin are also utilized.
• the strain was unable to utilize: ribose, lactose, galactose, melibiose, D-raffinose, glycogen, glycerol, erythritol, inositol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, arabitol, gluconate and lactate.
• the strain was determined to be susceptible to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, fusidic acid, methicillin, novobiocin, streptomycin, tetracycline, sulphafurazole, oleandomycin, polymixin, rifampicin, vancomycin and bacitracin; but resistant to gentamicin, nitrofurantoin, nalidixic acid, sulphmethoxazole, trimethoprim, penicillin G, neomycin and kanamycin.
• the following enzymes aside from the protease of the present invention, were observed to be produced (ApiZym, API Coryne); C4-esterase, C8-esterase/lipase, leueine arylamidase, alpha-chymotrypsin, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase and pyrazinamidase.
• the strain was observed to exhibit the following chemotaxonomic characteristics.
• Major fatty acids (>10% of total) were C16:1 (28.1%), C18:0 (31.1%), C18:1 (13.9%).
• Fatty acids with even numbers of carbons accounted for 98%.
• Main polar lipid components phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and 3 unidentified glycolipids (alpha-napthol positive) were present; DPG, PGP, PI and PE were not detected.
• Menaquinones MK-4, MK-6, MK-7 and MK-9 were the main isoprenoids present-
• the cell wall peptidoglycan type was A4 ⁇ with L-ornithine as diamino acid and D- aspartic acid in the interpeptide bridge.
• toxicity evaluation there are no known toxicity or pathogenicity issues associated with bacteria of the genus Cellulomonas.
• enzymes of a specific type produced by organisms of the same species generally are substantially identical with respect to substrate specificity and/or proteolytic activity levels under given conditions (e.g., temperature, pH, water hardness, oxidative conditions, chelating conditions, and concentration), etc.
• the proteolytic polypeptides of this invention are characterized physicochemically, while in other embodiments, they are characterized based on their functionally, while in further embodiments, they are characterized using both sets of properties.
• Physicochemical characterization takes advantages of well known techniques such as SDS electrophoresis, gel filtration, amino acid composition, mass spectrometry (e.g,. MALDI-TOF-MS, LC-ES-MS/MS, etc.), and sedimentation to determine the molecular weight of proteins, isoelectric focusing to determine the pi of proteins, amino acid sequencing to determine the amino acid sequences of protein, crystallography studies to determine the tertiary structures of proteins, and antibody binding to determine antigenic epitopes present in proteins.
• functional characteristics are determined by techniques well known to the practitioner in the protease field and include, but are not limited to, hydrolysis of various commercial substrates, such as di-methyl casein (“DMC”) and/or AAPF-pNA. This preferred technique for functional characterization is described in greater detail in the Examples provided herein.
• DMC di-methyl casein
• AAPF-pNA AAPF-pNA
• the protease has a molecular weight of about 17kD to about 21 kD, for example about 18kD to 19kD, for example 18700 daltons to 18800 daltons, for example about 18764 daltons, as determined by MALDI-TOF-MS).
• the protease measured MALDI-TOF-MS spectrum as set forth in Figure 3.
• proteases of the present invention provide enhanced wash performance under identified conditions.
• the present invention encompasses the protease 69B as described herein, in some embodiments, the proteases of the present invention exhibit at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% proteolytic activity as compared to the proteolytic activity of 69B4.
• the proteases display at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% proteolytic activity as compared to the proteolytic activity of proteases sold under the tradenames
• the proteases of the present invention display comparative or enhanced wash performance under identified conditions as compared to 69B4 under the same conditions. In some preferred embodiments, the proteases of the present invention display comparative or enhanced wash performance under identified conditions, as compared to proteases sold under the tradenames SAVINASE® (Novozymes) or PURAFECT® (Genencor) under the same conditions.
• the proteases and/or polynucleotides encoding the proteases of the present invention are provided purified form (i.e., present in a particular composition in a higher or lower concentration than exists in a naturally occurring or wild type organism), or in combination with components not normally present upon expression from a naturally occurring or wild-type organism.
• purified form i.e., present in a particular composition in a higher or lower concentration than exists in a naturally occurring or wild type organism
• components not normally present upon expression from a naturally occurring or wild-type organism are provided purified form (i.e., present in a particular composition in a higher or lower concentration than exists in a naturally occurring or wild type organism), or in combination with components not normally present upon expression from a naturally occurring or wild-type organism.
• the present invention be limited to proteases of any specific purity level, as ranges of protease purity find use in various applications in which the proteases of the present invention are suitable.
• nucleic acid encoding a protease of the present invention is obtained by standard procedures known in the art from, for example, cloned DNA (e.g., a DNA "library”), chemical synthesis, cDNA cloning, PCR, cloning of genomic DNA or fragments thereof, or purified from a desired cell, such as a bacterial or fungal species (See, for example, Sambrook et al., supra [1989]; and Glover and Hames (eds.), DNA Cloning: A Practical Approach. Vols 1 and 2, Second Edition).
• nucleic acid sequences derived from genomic DNA contain regulatory regions in addition to coding regions.
• DNA fragments are generated, some of which comprise at least a portion of the desired gene.
• the DNA is cleaved at specific sites using various restriction enzymes.
• DNAse is used in the presence of manganese to fragment the DNA, or the DNA is physically sheared (e.g., by sonication).
• the linear DNA fragments created are then be separated according to size and amplified by standard techniques, including but not limited to, agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, PCR and column chromatography.
• identification of the specific DNA fragment encoding a protease may be accomplished in a number of ways.
• a proteolytic hydrolyzing enzyme encoding the asp gene or its specific RNA, or a fragment thereof, such as a probe or primer is isolated, labeled, and then used in hybridization assays well known to those in the art, to detect a generated gene (See e.g., Benton and Davis, Science 196:180 [1977]; and Grunstein and Hogness, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 72:3961 [1975]).
• DNA fragments sharing substantial sequence similarity to the probe hybridize under medium to high stringency.
• amplification is accomplished using PCR, as known in the art.
• a nucleic acid sequence of at least about 4 nucleotides and as many as about 60 nucleotides from SEQ ID NOS:1 , 2, 3 and/or 4 i.e., fragments
• PCR primers preferably about 12 to 30 nucleotides, and more preferably about 25 nucleotides are used in any suitable combinations as PCR primer. These same fragments also find use as probes in hybridization and product detection methods.
• isolation of nucleic acid constructs of the invention from a cDNA or genomic library utilizes PCR with using degenerate oligonucleotide primers prepared on the basis of the amino acid sequence of the protein having the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NOS:1 -5.
• the primers can be of any segment length, for example at least 4, at least 5, at least 8, at least 15, at least 20, nucleotides in length.
• Exemplary probes in the present application utilized a primer comprising a TTGWHCGT and a GDSGG polynucleotide sequence as more fully described in Examples.
• polynucleotide sequences provided herein and based on the polynucleotide sequences provided in SEQ ID NOS:1-5 are useful for obtaining identical or homologous fragments of polynucleotides from other species, and particularly from bacteria that encode enzymes having the serine protease activity expressed by protease 69B4.
• any suitable means for expression and recovery of the serine proteases of the present invention find use herein. Indeed, those of skill in the art know many methods suitable for cloning a Cellulomonas-de ⁇ ved polypeptide having proteolytic activity, as well as an additional enzyme (e.g., a second peptide having proteolytic activity, such as a protease, cellulase, mannanase, or amylase, etc.). Numerous methods are also known in the art for introducing at least one (e.g., multiple) copies of the polynucleotide(s) encoding the enzyme(s) of the present invention in conjunction with any additional sequences desired, into the genes or genome of host cells.
• the polynucleotide sequences of the present invention are expressed by operatively linking them to an expression control sequence in an appropriate expression vector and employed by that expression vector to transform an appropriate host according to techniques well established in the art.
• the polypeptides produced on expression of the DNA sequences of this invention are isolated from the fermentation of cell cultures and purified in a variety of ways according to well established techniques in the art. Those of skill in the art are capable of selecting the most appropriate isolation and purification techniques.
• the present invention provides constructs, vectors comprising polynucleotides described herein, host cells transformed with such vectors, proteases expressed by such host cells, expression methods and systems for the production of serine protease enzymes derived from microorganisms, in particular, members of the Micrococcineae, including but not limited to Cellulomonas species.
• the polynucleotide(s) encoding serine protease(s) are used to produce recombinant host cells suitable for the expression of the serine protease(s).
• the expression hosts are capable of producing the protease(s) in commercially viable quantities.
• the present invention provides vectors comprising the aforementioned polynucleotides.
• the vectors (i.e., constructs) of the invention encoding the protease are of genomic origin (e.g., prepared though use of a genomic library and screening for DNA sequences coding for all or part of the protease by hybridization using synthetic oligonucleotide probes in accordance with standard techniques).
• the DNA sequence encoding the protease is obtained by isolating chromosomal DNA from the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 and amplifying the sequence by PCR methodology (See, the Examples).
• the nucleic acid construct of the invention encoding the protease is prepared synthetically by established standard methods (See e.g., Beaucage and Caruthers, Tetra. Lett. 22:1859-1869 [1981]; and Matthes et al., EMBO J., 3:801-805 [1984]).
• oligonucleotides are synthesized (e.g., in an automatic DNA synthesizer), purified, annealed, ligated and cloned in suitable vectors.. ln additional embodiments, the nucleic acid construct is of mixed synthetic and genomic origin.
• the construct is prepared by ligating fragments of synthetic or genomic DNA (as appropriate), wherein the fragments correspond to various parts of the entire nucleic acid construct, in accordance with standard techniques.
• the present invention provides vectors comprising at least one DNA construct of the present invention.
• the present invention encompasses recombinant vectors. It is contemplated that any suitable vector will find use in the present invention, including autonomously replicating vector a well as vectors that integrate (either transiently or stably) within the host cell genome). Indeed, a wide variety of vectors, and expression cassettes suitable for the cloning, transformation and expression in fungal (mold and yeast), bacterial, insect and plant cells are known to those of skill in the art.
• the vector or cassette contains sequences directing transcription and translation of the nucleic acid, a selectable marker, and sequences allowing autonomous replication or chromosomal integration.
• suitable vectors comprise a region 5' of the gene which harbors transcriptional initiation controls and a region 3' of the DNA fragment which controls transcriptional termination. These control regions may be derived from genes homologous or heterologous to the host as long as the control region selected is able to function in the host cell.
• the vector is preferably an expression vector in which the DNA sequence encoding the protease of the invention is operably linked to additional segments required for transcription of the DNA.
• the expression vector is derived from plasmid or viral DNA, or in alternative embodiments, contains elements of both.
• Exemplary vectors include, but are not limited to pSEGCT, pSEACT, and/or pSEA4CT, as well as all of the vectors described in the Examples herein. Construction of such vectors is described herein, and methods are well known in the art (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,839; and WO 02/50245).
• the vector pSEGCT (about 8302 bp; See, Figure 5) finds use in the construction of a vector comprising the polynucleotides described herein (e.g., pSEG69B4T; See, Figure 6).
• the vector pSEA469B4CT (See, Figure 7) finds use in the construction of a vector comprising the polynucleotides described herein. Indeed, it is intended that all of the vectors described herein will find use in the present invention.
• the additional segments required for transcription include regulatory segments (e.g., promoters, secretory segments, inhibitors, global regulators, etc.), as known in the art.
• regulatory segments e.g., promoters, secretory segments, inhibitors, global regulators, etc.
• One example includes any DNA sequence that shows transcriptional activity in the host cell of choice and is derived from genes encoding proteins either homologous or heterologous to the host cell.
• suitable promoters for use in bacterial host cells include but are not limited to the promoter of the Bacillus stearothermophilus maltogenic amylase gene, the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BAN) amylase gene, the Bacillus subtilis alkaline protease gene, the Bacillus clausii alkaline protease gene the Bacillus pumilus xylosidase gene, the Bacillus thuringiensis crylllA, and the Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase gene.
• Additional promoters include the A4 promoter, as described herein.
• Other promoters that find use in the present invention include, but are not limited to phage Lambda P R or P promoters, as well as the E. coli lac, trp or tac promoters.
• the promoter is derived from a gene encoding said protease or a fragment thereof having substantially the same promoter activity as said sequence.
• the invention further encompasses nucleic acid sequences which hybridize to the promoter sequences under intermediate, high, and/or maximum stringency conditions, or which have at least about 90% homology and preferably about 95% homology to such promoter, but which have substantially the same promoter activity.
• this promoter is used to promote the expression of either the protease and/or a heterologous DNA sequence (e.g., another enzyme in addition to the protease of the present invention).
• the vector also comprises at least one selectable marker.
• the recombinant vectors of the invention further comprise a
• DNA sequence enabling the vector to replicate in the host cell.
• these sequences comprise all the sequences needed to allow plasmid replication (e.g., ori and/or rep sequences).
• signal sequences are also included in the vector, in order to direct a polypeptide of the present invention into the secretory pathway of the host cells.
• a secretory signal sequence is joined to the-DNA sequence encoding the precursor protease in the correct reading frame (See e.g., SEQ ID NOS:1 and 2).
• a polynucleotide sequence or expression vector of the invention is engineered with or without a natural polypeptide signal sequence or a signal sequence which functions in bacteria (e.g., Bacillus sp.), fungi (e.g., Trichoderma), other prokaryotes or eukaryotes.
• expression is achieved by either removing or partially removing the signal sequence ln some embodiments involving secretion from bacterial cells, the signal peptide is a naturally occurring signal peptide, or a functional part thereof, while in other embodiments, it is a synthetic peptide.
• Suitable signal peptides include but are not limited to sequences derived from Bacillus Hchenifornmis alpha-amylase, Bacillus clausii alkaline protease, and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens amylase.
• One preferred signal sequence is the signal peptide derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4, as described herein.
• the signal peptide comprises the signal peptide from the protease described herein. This signal finds use in facilitating the secretion of the 69B4 protease and/or a heterologous DNA sequence (e.g.
• a second protease such as another wild-type protease, a BPN' variant protease, a GG36 variant protease, a lipase, a cellulase, a mannanases, etc.
• these second enzymes are encoded by the DNA sequence and/or the amino acid sequences known in the art (See e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,465,235, 6,287,839, 5,965,384, and 5,795,764; as well as WO 98/22500, WO 92/05249, EP 0305216B1 , and WO 94/25576).
• the signal sequence peptide is also be operatively linked to an endogenous sequence to activate and secrete such endogenous encoded protease.
• the procedures used to ligate the DNA sequences coding for the present protease, the promoter and/or secretory signal sequence, respectively, and to insert them into suitable vectors containing the information necessary for replication, are well known to those skilled in the art.
• the nucleic acid construct is prepared using PCR with specific primers.
• the present invention also provides host cells transformed with the vectors described above.
• the polynucleotide encoding the protease(s) of the present invention that is introduced into the host cell is homologous, while in other embodiments, the polynucleotide is heterologous to the host.
• the polynucleotide is homologous to the host cell (e.g., additional copies of the native protease produced by the host cell are introduced), it is operably connected to another homologous or heterologous promoter sequence.
• another secretory signal sequence, and/or terminator sequence find use in the present invention.
• the polypeptide DNA sequence comprises multiple copies of a homologous polypeptide sequence, a heterologous polypeptide sequence from another organism, or synthetic polypeptide sequence(s). Indeed, it is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular host cells and/or vectors.
• the host cell into which the DNA construct of the present invention is introduced may be any cell which is capable of producing the present alkaline protease
• bacterial host cells which find use in the present invention include, but are not limited to Gram-positive bacteria such as Bacillus, Streptomyces, and Thermobifida, for example strains of B. subtilis, B. licheniformis, B. lentus, B. brevis, B. stearothermophilus, B. clausii, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. coagulans, B. circulans, B. lautus, B.o megaterium, B. thuringiensis, S. griseus, S. lividans, S. coelicolor; S. avermitilis and T.
• Gram-positive bacteria such as Bacillus, Streptomyces, and Thermobifida
• B. subtilis such as Bacillus, Streptomyces, and Thermobifida
• B. subtilis such as Bacillus, Streptomyces, and Thermobifida
• the host cells are B. subtilis, B. clausii, and/or B. licheniformis.
• the host cells are strains of S. lividans (e.g., TK23 and/or TK21). Any suitable method for transformation of5 the bacteria find use in the present invention, including but not limited to protoplast transformation, use of competent cells, etc., as known in the art. In some preferred embodiments, the method provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,366 (incorporated by reference herein), finds used in the present invention. For S.
• Fernandez-Abalos ef al. See,o Fernandez-Abalos et al., Microbiol., 149:1623-1632 [2003]; See also, Hopwood, etal., Genetic Manipulation of Streptomyces: Laboratory Manual, Innis [1985], both of which are incorporated by reference herein).
• Hopwood, etal. Genetic Manipulation of Streptomyces: Laboratory Manual, Innis [1985], both of which are incorporated by reference herein.
• the methods described in the Example herein find use in the present invention.
• the host cells are Trichoderma reesei and/or Aspergillus niger.
• transformation and expression in Aspergillus is performed as described in U.S. Pat. 5,364,770, herein incorporated by reference.
• particular promoter and signal sequences are needed to provide effective transformation and expression of the protease(s) of the present invention.
• the aprE promoter is used in combination with known Bac///ws-derived signal and other regulatory sequences.
• the glaA promoter is used.
• the glucose isomerase (Gl) promoter of Actinoplanes missouriensis is used, while in other embodiments, the A4 promoter is used.
• the protease In some embodiments involving expression in bacteria such as E. coli, the protease
• the protease is directed to the periplasmic space by a bacterial secretion sequence.
• the cells are lysed, and the granules are recovered and denatured after which the protease is refolded by diluting the denaturing agent.
• the protease is recovered from the periplasmic space by disruptingo the cells (e.g., by sonication or osmotic shock), to release the contents of the periplasmic space and recovering the protease! "
• the transformed host cells of the present invention are cultured in a suitable nutrient medium under conditions permitting the expression of the present protease, after which the resulting protease is recovered from the culture.
• Thes medium used to culture the cells comprises any conventional medium suitable for growing the host cells, such as minimal or complex media containing appropriate supplements. Suitable media are available from commercial suppliers or may be prepared according to published recipes (e.g., in catalogues of the American Type Culture Collection).
• the protease produced by the cells is recovered from the culture medium byo conventional procedures, including, but not limited to separating the host cells from the medium by centrifugation or filtration, precipitating the proteinaceous components of the supernatant or filtrate by means of a salt (e.g., ammonium sulfate), chromatographic purification (e.g., ion exchange, gel filtration, affinity, etc.).
• a salt e.g., ammonium sulfate
• chromatographic purification e.g., ion exchange, gel filtration, affinity, etc.
• the proteases of the present invention have important characteristics that make them very suitable for certain applications. For example,o the proteases of the present invention have enhanced thermal stability, enhanced oxidative stability, and enhanced chelator stability, as compared to some currently used proteases. Thus, these proteases find use in cleaning compositions. Indeed, under certain wash conditions, the present proteases exhibit comparative or enhanced wash performance as compared with currently used subtilisin proteases. Thus, it is contemplated that the cleaning and/or enzyme compositions of the present invention will be provided in a variety of cleaning compositions. In some embodiments, the proteases of the present invention are utilized in the same manner as subtilisin proteases (/ ' .e., proteases currently in use). Thus, the present proteases find use in various cleaning compositions, as well as animal feed applications, leather processing (e.g., bating), protein hydrolysis, and in textile uses. The identified proteases also find use in personal care applications. .
• the proteases of the present invention find use in a number of industrial applications, in particular within the cleaning, disinfecting, animal feed, and textile/leather industries.
• the protease(s) of the present invention are combined with detergents, builders, bleaching agents and other conventional ingredients to produce a variety of novel cleaning compositions useful in the laundry and other cleaning arts such as, for example, laundry detergents (both powdered and liquid), laundry pre-soaks, all fabric bleaches, automatic dishwashing detergents (both liquid and powdered), household cleaners, particularly bar and liquid soap applications, and drain openers.
• laundry detergents both powdered and liquid
• laundry pre-soaks all fabric bleaches
• automatic dishwashing detergents both liquid and powdered
• household cleaners particularly bar and liquid soap applications
• drain openers the protease find use in the cleaning of contact lenses, as well as other items, by contacting such materials with an aqueous solution of the cleaning composition.
• these naturally occurring proteases can be used, for example in peptide hydrolysis, waste treatment, textile applications, medical device cleaning, biofilm removal and as fusion- cleavage enzymes in protein production, etc.
• the composition of these products is not critical to the present invention, as long as the protease(s) maintain their function in the setting used.
• the compositions are readily prepared by combining a cleaning effective amount of the protease or an enzyme composition comprising the protease enzyme preparation with the conventional components of such compositions in their art recognized amounts.
• the proteases of the present invention find particular use in the cleaning industry, including, but not limited to laundry and dish detergents. These applications place enzymes under various environmental stresses.
• the proteases of the present invention provide advantages over many currently used enzymes, due to their stability under various conditions. Indeed, there are a variety of wash conditions including varying detergent formulations, wash water volumes, wash water temperatures, and lengths of wash time, to which proteases involved in washing are exposed.
• detergent formulations used in different geographical areas have different concentrations of their relevant components present in the wash water. For example, a European detergent typically has about 4500- 5000 ppm of detergent components in the wash water, while a Japanese detergent typically has approximately 667 ppm of detergent components in the wash water. In North America, particularly the United States, detergents typically have about 975 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.
• a low detergent concentration system includes detergents where less than about 800 ppm of detergent components are present in the wash water.
• Japanese detergents are typically considered low detergent concentration system as they have approximately 667 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.
• a medium detergent concentration includes detergents where between about 800o ppm and about 2000ppm of detergent components are present in the wash water.
• North American detergents are generally considered to be medium detergent concentration systems as they have approximately 975 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water. Brazil typically has approximately 1500 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.
• a high detergent concentration system includes detergents where greater than about
• European detergents are generally considered to be high detergent concentration systems as they have approximately 4500-5000 ppm of detergent components in the wash water.
• Latin American detergents are generally high suds phosphate builder detergents ando the range of detergents used in Latin America can fall in both the medium and high detergent concentrations as they range from 1500 ppm to 6000 ppm of detergent components in the wash water. As mentioned above, Brazil typically has approximately 1500 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water. However, other high suds phosphate builder detergent geographies, not limited to other Latin American countries, may5 have high detergent concentration systems up to about 6000 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.
• concentrations of detergent compositions in typical wash solutions throughout the world varies from less than about 800 ppm of detergent composition ("low detergent concentration geographies"), for example about 667o ppm in Japan, to between about 800 ppm to about 2000 ppm ("medium detergent concentration geographies” ), for example about 975 ppm in U.S. and about 1500 ppm in Brazil, to greater than about 2000 ppm ("high detergent concentration geographies”), for example about 4500 ppm to about 5000 ppm in Europe and about 6000 ppm in high suds phosphate builder geographies.
• concentrations of the typical wash solutions are determined empirically.
• a typical washing machine holds a volume of about 64.4 L of wash solution. Accordingly, in order to obtain a concentration of about 975 ppm of detergent within the wash solution about 62.79 g of detergent composition must be added to the 64.4 L of wash solution. This amount is the typical amount measured into the wash water by the consumer using the measuring cup provided with the detergent.
• the temperature of the wash water in Japan is typically less than that used in Europe.
• the temperature of the wash water in North America and Japan can be between 10 and 30 ° C (e.g., about 20 ° C), whereas the temperature of wash water in Europe is typically between 30 and 60°C (e.g., about 40°C).
• Water hardness is usually described in terms of the grains per gallon mixed Ca 2+ /Mg 2+ .
• Hardness is a measure of the amount of calcium (Ca 2+ ) and magnesium (Mg 2+ ) in the water. Most water in the United States is hard, but the degree of hardness varies. Moderately hard (60-120 ppm) to hard (121-181 ppm) water has 60 to 181 parts per million (parts per million converted to grains per U.S. gallon is ppm # divided by 17.1 equals grains per gallon) of hardness minerals.
• European water hardness is typically greater than 10.5 (for example 10.5-20.0) grains per gallon mixed Ca 2+ /Mg 2+ (e.g., about 15 grains per gallon mixed Ca 2+ /Mg 2+ ).
• North American water hardness is typically greater than Japanese water hardness, but less than European water hardness.
• North American water hardness can be between 3 to10 grains, 3-8 grains or about 6 grains.
• Japanese water hardness is typically lower than North American water hardness, usually less than 4, for example 3 grains per gallon mixed Ca 2+ /Mg 2+ .
• the present invention provides proteases that show surprising wash performance in at least one set of wash conditions (e.g., water temperature, water hardness, and/or detergent concentration).
• the proteases of the present invention are comparable in wash performance to subtilisin proteases. In some embodiments, the proteases of the present invention exhibit enhanced wash performance as compared to subtilisin proteases. Thus, in some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the proteases provided herein exhibit enhanced oxidative stability, enhanced thermal stability, and/or enhanced chelator stability.
• the present invention provides the ASP protease, as well as homologues and variants fo the protease. These proteases find use in any applications in which it is desired to clean protein based stains from textiles or fabrics.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention are formulated as hand and machine laundry detergent compositions including laundry additive compositions, and compositions suitable for use in the pretreatment of stained fabrics, rinse- added fabric softener compositions, and compositions for use in general household hard surface cleaning operations, as well as dishwashing operation ' s. Those in the art are familiar with different formulations which can be used as cleaning compositions.
• the proteases of the present invention comprise comparative or enhanced performance in detergent compositions (i.e., as compared to other proteases).
• cleaning performance is evaluated by comparing the proteases of the present invention with subtilisin proteases in various cleaning assays that utilize enzyme- sensitive stains such as egg, grass, blood, milk, etc., in standard methods. Indeed, those in the art are familiar with the spectrophotometric and other analytical methodologies used to assess detergent performance under standard wash cycle conditions. Assays that find use in the present invention include, but are not limited to those described in WO 99/34011, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,458 (See e.g., Example 3). In U.S. Pat. No.
• proteases of the invention to conventional cleaning compositions does not create any special use limitation.
• any temperature and pH suitable for the detergent is also suitable for the present compositions, as long as the pH is within the range set forth herein, and the temperature is below the described protease's denaturing temperature.
• proteases of the present invention find use in cleaning compositions that do not include detergents, again either alone or in combination with builders and stabilizers.
• oxidative stability is a further consideration.
• the stability is enhanced, diminished, or comparable to subtilisin proteases as desired for various uses.
• enhanced oxidative stability is desired.
• thermal stability is a further consideration.
• the stability is enhanced, diminished, or comparable to subtilisin proteases as desired for various uses.
• enhanced thermostability is desired.
• chelator stability When used in cleaning compositions or detergents, chelator stability is a further consideration.
• the stability is enhanced, diminished, or comparable to subtilisin proteases as desired for various uses.
• enhanced chelator stability is desired.
• naturally occurring proteases are provided which exhibit modified enzymatic activity at different pHs when compared to subtilisin proteases.
• a pH-activity profile is a plot of pH against enzyme activity and may be constructed as described in the Examples and/or by methods known in the art.
• it is desired to obtain naturally occurring proteases with broader profiles i.e., those having greater activity at range of pHs than a comparable subtilisin protease.
• the enzymes have no significantly greater activity at any pH, or naturally occurring homologues with sharper profiles (i.e., those having enhanced activity when compared to subtilisin proteases at a given pH, and lesser activity elsewhere).
• the proteases of the present invention have differing pH optima and/or ranges. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any specific pH or pH range.
• the cleaning compositions comprise, proteases of the present invention at a level from 0.00001 % to 10% of 69B4 and/or other protease of the present invention by weight of the composition and the balance (e.g., 99.999% to 90.0%) comprising cleaning adjunct materials by weight of composition.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention comprise, the 69B4 and/or other proteases at a level of 0.0001 % to 10%, 0.001% to 5%, 0.001 % to 2%, 0.005% to 0.5% 69B4 or other protease of the present invention by weight of the composition and the balance of the cleaning composition (e.g., 99.9999% to 90.0%, 99.999 % to 98%, 99.995% to 99.5% by weight) comprising cleaning adjunct materials.
• the balance of the cleaning composition e.g., 99.9999% to 90.0%, 99.999 % to 98%, 99.995% to 99.5% by weight
• preferred cleaning compositions in addition to the protease preparation of the invention, comprise one or more additional enzymes or enzyme derivatives which provide cleaning performance and/or fabric care benefits.
• additional enzymes or enzyme derivatives include, but are not limited to other proteases, lipases, cutinases, amylases, cellulases, peroxidases, oxidases (e.g. laccases), and/or mannanases.
• protease suitable for use in alkaline solutions finds use in the compositions of the present invention.
• Suitable proteases include those of animal, vegetable or microbial origin. In particularly preferred embodiments, microbial proteases are used. In some embodiments, chemically or genetically modified mutants are included.
• the protease is a serine protease, preferably an alkaline microbial protease or a trypsin-like protease.
• alkaline proteases include subtilisins, especially those derived from Bacillus (e.g., subtilisin, lentus, amyloliquefaciens, subtilisin Carlsberg, subtilisin 309, subtilisin 147 and subtilisin 168).
• Additional examples include those mutant proteases described in U.S. Pat. Nos. RE 34,606, 5,955,340, 5,700,676, 6,312,936, and 6,482,628, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Additional protease examples include, but are not limited to trypsin (e.g., of porcine or bovine origin), and the Fusarium protease described in WO 89/06270.
• Preferred commercially available protease enzymes include those sold under the trade names MAXATASE®, MAXACALTM, MAXAPEMTM, OPTICLEAN®, OPTIMASE®, PROPERASE®, PURAFECT® and PURAFECT® OXP (Genencor), those sold under the trade names ALCALASE®, SAVINASE®, PRIMASE®, DURAZYMTM, RELASE® and ESPERASE® (Novozymes); and those sold under the trade name BLAPTM (Henkel Kilandit GmbH auf Aktien, Duesseldorf, Germany.
• Various proteases are described in WO95/23221, WO 92/21760, and U.S. Pat. Nos.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention comprise additional protease enzymes at a level from 0.00001 % to 10% of additional protease by weight of the composition and 99.999% to 90.0% of cleaning adjunct materials by weight of composition.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention also comprise, proteases at a level of 0.0001 % to 10%, 0.001% to 5%, 0.001% to 2%, 0.005% to 0.5% 69B4 protease (or its homologues or variants) by weight of the composition and the balance of the cleaning composition (e.g., 99.9999% to 90.0%, 99.999 % to 98%, 99.995% to 99.5% by weight) comprising cleaning adjunct materials.
• any lipase suitable for use in alkaline solutions finds use in the present invention.
• Suitable lipases include, but are not limited to those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically or genetically modified mutants are encompassed by the present invention.
• useful lipases include Humicola lanuginosa lipase (See e.g., EP 258 068, and EP 305 216), Rhizomucor miehei lipase (See e.g., EP 238 023), Candida lipase, such as C. antarctica lipase (e.g., the C.
• antarctica lipase A or B See e.g., EP 214 761), a Pseudomonas lipase such as P. alcaligenes and P. pseudoalcaligenes lipase (See e.g., EP 218 272), P. cepacia lipase (See e.g., EP 331 376), P. stutzeri lipase (See e.g., GB 1,372,034), P. fluorescens lipase, Bacillus lipase (e.g., B. subtilis lipase [Dartois et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta 1131:253-260 [1993]); B. stearothermophilus lipase [See e.g., JP 64/744992]; and B. pumilus lipase [See e.g., WO 91/16422]).
• cloned lipases find use in some embodiments of the present invention, including but not limited to Penicillium camembertii lipase (See, Yamaguchi et al., Gene 103:61-67 [1991]), Geotricum candidum lipase (See, Schimada et al., J. Biochem., 106:383-388 [1989]), and various Rhizopus lipases such as R. delemar lipase (See, Hass et al., Gene 109:117-113 [1991]), a R. niveus lipase (Kugimiya et al., Biosci. Biotech. Biochem. 56:716-719 [1992]) and R. oryzae lipase.
• Penicillium camembertii lipase See, Yamaguchi et al., Gene 103:61-67 [1991]
• Geotricum candidum lipase See, Schimada
• cutinases Other types of lipolytic enzymes such as cutinases also find use in some embodiments of the present invention, including but not limited to the cutinase derived from Pseudomonas mendocina (See, WO 88/09367), or cutinase derived from Fusarium solani pisi (See, WO 90/09446).
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention further comprise lipases at a level from 0.00001 % to 10% of additional lipase by weight of the composition and the balance of cleaning adjunct materials by weight of composition.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention further comprise lipases at a level from 0.00001 % to 10% of additional lipase by weight of the composition and the balance of cleaning adjunct materials by weight of composition.
• lipases at a level of 0.0001 % to 10%, 0.001% to 5%, 0.001% to 2%, 0.005% to 0.5% lipase by weight of the composition.
• amylase alpha and/or beta
• suitable amylases include, but are not limited to those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically or genetically modified mutants areo included in some embodiments.
• Amylases that find use in the present invention include, but are not limited to ⁇ -amylases obtained from B. licheniformis (See e.g., GB 1,296,839).
• Commercially available amylases that find use in the present invention include, but are not limited to DURAMYL®, TERMAMYL®, FUNGAMYL® and BANTM (Novozymes) and RAPIDASE® and MAXAMYL® P (Genencor International).
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention further comprise amylases at a level from 0.00001 % to 10% of additional amylase by weight of the composition and the balance of cleaning adjunct materials by weight of composition.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention also comprise, amylases at a level of 0.0001 % to 10%, 0.001% too 5%, 0.001 % to 2%, 0.005% to 0.5% amylase by weight of the composition.
• Suitable cellulases include, but are not limited to those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically or genetically modified mutants are included in some embodiments. Suitable cellulases include, but are not limited to Humicola insolens 5 cellulases (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,307). Especially suitable cellulases are the cellulases having color care benefits (See e.g., EP 0 495 257).
• cellulases that find use in the present include, but are not limited to CELLUZYME® (Novozymes), and KAC-500(B)TM (Kao Corporation). In some embodiments, cellulases are incorporated as portions or fragments of mature wild-type or0 variant cellulases, wherein a portion of the N-terminus is deleted (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,276).
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention can further comprise cellulases at a level from 0.00001 % to 10% of additional cellulase by weight of the composition and the balance of cleaning adjunct materials by weight of composition.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention also comprise cellulases at a level of 0.0001 % to 10%, 0.001 % to 5%, 0.001% to 2%, 0.005% to 0.5% cellulase by weight of the composition.
• mannanases suitable for use in detergent compositions and or alkaline solutions find use in the present invention.
• Suitable mannanases include, but are not limited to those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically or genetically modified mutants are included in some embodiments.
• Various mannanases are known which find use in the present invention (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,114, U.S. Pat. No.6,602,842, and US Patent No. 6,440,991 , all of which are incorporated herein by reference).
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention can further comprise mannanases at a level from 0.00001 % to 10% of additional mannanase by weight of the composition and the balance of cleaning adjunct materials by weight of composition.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention also comprise, mannanases at a level of 0.0001 % to 10%, 0.001% to 5%, 0.001 % to 2%, 0.005% to 0.5% mannanases by weight of the composition.
• peroxidases are used in combination with hydrogen peroxide or a source thereof (e.g., a percarbonate, perborate or persulfate).
• oxidases are used in combination with oxygen. Both types of enzymes are used for "solution bleaching" (i.e., to prevent transfer of a textile dye from a dyed fabric to another fabric when the fabrics are washed together in a wash liquor), preferably together with an enhancing agent (See e.g., WO 94/12621 and WO 95/01426).
• Suitable peroxidases/oxidases include, but are not limited to those of plant, bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically or genetically modified mutants are included in some embodiments.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention can further comprise peroxidase and/or oxidase enzymes at a level from 0.00001 % to 10% of additional peroxidase and/or oxidase by weight of the composition and the balance of cleaning adjunct materials by weight of composition.
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention also comprise, peroxidase and/or oxidase enzymes at a level of 0.0001 % to 10%, 0.001% to 5%, 0.001% to 2%, 0.005% to 0.5% peroxidase and/or oxidase enzymes by weight of the composition.
• mixtures of the above mentioned enzymes are encompassed herein, in particular a mixture of a the 69B4 enzyme, one or more additional proteases, at least one amylase, at least one lipase, at least one mannanase, and/or at least one cellulase. Indeed, it is contemplated that various mixtures of these enzymes will find use in the present invention. It is contemplated that the varying levels of the protease and one or more additional enzymes may both independently range to 10%, the balance of the cleaning composition being cleaning adjunct materials. The specific selection of cleaning adjunct materials are readily made by considering the surface, item, or fabric to be cleaned, and the desired form of the composition for the cleaning conditions during use (e.g., through the wash detergent use).
• cleaning adjunct materials include, but are not limited to, surfactants, builders, bleaches, bleach activators, bleach catalysts, other enzymes, enzyme stabilizing systems, chelants, optical brighteners, soil release polymers, dye transfer agents, dispersants, suds suppressors, dyes, perfumes, colorants, filler salts, hydrotropes, photoactivators, fluorescers, fabric conditioners, hydrolyzable surfactants, preservatives, anti-oxidants, anti-shrinkage agents, anti-wrinkle agents, germicides, fungicides, color speckles, silvercare, anti-tarnish and/or anti-corrosion agents, alkalinity sources, solubilizing agents, carriers, processing aids, pigments, and pH control agents (See e.g., U.S.
• cleaning adjunct materials are not compatible with the proteases of the present invention in the cleaning compositions, then suitable methods of keeping the cleaning adjunct materials and the protease(s) separated (i.e., not in contact with each other) until combination of the two components is appropriate are used.
• separation methods include any suitable method known in the art (e.g., gelcaps, encapulation, tablets, physical separation, etc.).
• an effective amount of one or more protease(s) provided herein are included in compositions useful for cleaning a variety of surfaces in need of proteinaceous stain removal.
• cleaning compositions include cleaning compositions for such applications as cleaning hard surfaces, fabrics, and dishes.
• the present invention provides fabric cleaning compositions, while in other embodiments, the present invention provides non-fabric cleaning compositions.
• the present invention also provides cleaning compositions suitable for personal care, including oral care (including dentrifices, toothpastes, mouthwashes, etc., as well as denture cleaning compositions), skin, and hair cleaning compositions.
• the present invention encompass detergent compositions in any form (i.e., liquid, granular, bar, semi-solid, gels, emulsions, tablets, capsules, etc.).
• detergent compositions in any form (i.e., liquid, granular, bar, semi-solid, gels, emulsions, tablets, capsules, etc.).
• the cleaning compositions of the present invention are formulated as compositions suitable for use in laundry machine washing method(s)
• the compositions of the present invention preferably contain at least one surfactant and at least one builder compound, as well as one or more cleaning adjunct materials preferably selected from organic polymeric compounds, bleaching agents, additional enzymes, suds suppressors, dispersants, lime-soap dispersants, soil suspension and anti-redeposition agents and corrosion inhibitors.
• laundry compositions also contain softening agents (i.e., as additional cleaning adjunct materials).
• compositions of the present invention also find use detergent additive products in solid or liquid form. Such additive products are intended to supplement and/or boost the performance of conventional detergent compositions and can be added at any stage of the cleaning process.
• the compositions of the invention preferably contain at least one surfactant and preferably at least one additional cleaning adjunct material selected from organic polymeric compounds, suds enhancing agents, group II metal ions, solvents, hydrotropes and additional enzymes.
• the density of the laundry detergent compositions herein ranges from 400 to 1200 g/liter, while in other embodiments, it ranges from 500 to 950 g/liter of composition measured at 20 ° C.
• various cleaning compositions such as those provided in U.S, Pat. No. 6,605,458 find use with the proteases of the present invention.
• the compositions comprising at least one protease of the present invention is a compact granular fabric cleaning composition, while in other embodiments, the composition is a granular fabric cleaning composition useful in the laundering of colored fabrics, in further embodiments, the composition is a granular fabric cleaning composition which provides softening through the wash capacity, in additional embodiments, the composition is a heavy duty liquid fabric cleaning composition.
• compositions comprising at least one protease of the present invention are fabric cleaning compositions such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,642 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,450.
• the proteases of the present invention find use in granular laundry detergent compositions of particular utility under European or Japanese washing conditions (See e.g., US Patent 6,610,642).
• the present invention provides hard surface cleaning compositions comprising at least one protease provided herein.
• the compositions comprising at least one protease of the present invention is a hard surface cleaning composition such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,610,642, U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,450, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,450.
• the present invention provides dishwashing compositions comprising at least one protease provided herein.
• the compositions comprising at least one protease of the present invention is a hard surface cleaning composition such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,642, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,450.
• the present invention provides dishwashing compositions comprising at least one protease provided herein.
• the compositions comprising at least one protease of the present invention comprise oral care compositions such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,450, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,450.
• the present invention provides compositions and methods for the production of a food or animal feed, characterized in that protease according to the invention is mixed with food or animal feed.
• the protease is added as a dry product before processing, while in other embodiments it is added as a liquid before or after processing.
• the enzyme in which a dry powder is used, the enzyme is diluted as a liquid onto a dry carrier such as milled grain.
• the proteases of the present invention find use as components of animal feeds and/or additives such as those described U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,055, U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,692. and U.S. Pat No. 5,147,642, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
• the enzyme feed additive according to the present invention is suitable for preparation in a number of methods. For example, in some embodiments, it is prepared simply by mixing different enzymes having the appropriate activities to produce an enzyme mix. In some embodiments, this enzyme mix is mixed directly with a feed, while in other embodiments, it is impregnated onto a cereal-based carrier material such as milled wheat, maize or soya flour. The present invention also encompasses these impregnated carriers, as they find use as enzyme feed additives.
• a cereal-based carrier e.g., milled wheat or maize
• a cereal-based carrier is impregnated either simultaneously or sequentially with enzymes having the appropriate activities.
• a milled wheat carrier is first sprayed with a xylanase, secondly with a protease, and optionally with a ⁇ -glucanase.
• the present invention also encompasses these impregnated carriers, as they find use as enzyme feed additives.
• these impregnated carriers comprise at least one protease of the present invention.
• the feed additive of the present invention is directly mixed with the animal feed, while in alternative embodiments, it is mixed with one or more other feed additives such as a vitamin feed additive, a mineral feed additive, and/or an amino acid feed additive.
• the resulting feed additive including several different types of components is then mixed in an appropriate amount with the feed.
• the feed additive of the present invention, including cereal-based carriers is normally mixed in amounts of 0.01-50 g per kilogram of feed, more preferably 0.1-10 g/kilogram, and most preferably about 1 g/kilogram.
• the enzyme feed additive of the present invention involves construction of recombinant microorganisms that produces the desired enzyme(s) in the desired relative amounts. In some embodiments, this is accomplished by increasing the copy number of the gene encoding at least one protease of the present invention, and/or by using a suitably strong promoter operatively linked to the polynucleotide encoding the protease(s).
• the recombinant microorganism strain has certain enzyme activities deleted (e.g., cellulases, endoglucanases, etc.), as desired.
• the enzyme feed additives provided by the present invention also include other enzymes, including but not limited to at least one xylanase, ⁇ - amylase, glucoamylase, pectinase, mannanase, ⁇ -galactosidase, phytase, and/or lipase.
• the enzymes having the desired activities are mixed with the xylanase and protease either before impregnating these on a cereal-based carrier or alternatively such enzymes are impregnated simultaneously or sequentially on such a cereal-based carrier. The carrier is then in turn mixed with a cereal-based feed to prepare the final feed.
• the enzyme feed additive is formulated as a solution of the individual enzyme activities and then mixed with a feed material pre-formed as pellets or as a mash.
• the enzyme feed additive is included in animals' diets by incorporating it into a second (i.e., different) feed or the animals' drinking water. Accordingly, it is not essential that the enzyme mix provided by the present invention be incorporated into the cereal-based feed itself, although such incorporation forms a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• the ratio of the units of xylanase activity per g of the feed additive to the units of protease activity per g of the feed additive is preferably 1:0.001-1 ,000, more preferably 1 :0.01-100, and most preferably 1 :0.1- 10.
• the enzyme mix provided by the present invention is preferably finds use as a feed additive in the preparation of a cereal-based feed.
• the cereal-based feed comprises at least 25% by weight, or more preferably at least 35% by weight, wheat or maize or a combination of both of these cereals.
• the feed further comprises a protease (i.e., at least one protease of the present invention) in such an amount that the feed includes a protease in such an amount that the feed includes 100-100,000 units of protease activity per kg.
• a protease i.e., at least one protease of the present invention
• Cereal-based feeds provided the present invention according to the present invention find use as feed for a variety of non-human animals, including poultry (e.g., turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, etc.), livestock (e.g., pigs, sheep, cattle, goats, etc.), and companion animals (e.g., horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, etc.).
• the feeds are particularly suitable for poultry and pigs, and in particular broiler chickens.
• the present invention also provides compositions for the treatment of textiles that include at least one of the proteases of the present invention.
• at least one protease of the present invention is a component of compositions suitable for the treatment of silk or wool (See e.g., U.S. RE Pat. No. 216,034, EP 134,267, U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,359, and EP 344,259).
• the proteases of the present invention find use in a variety of applications where it is desirable to separate phosphorous from phytate. Accordingly, the present invention also provides methods producing wool or animal hair material with improved properties.
• these methods comprise the steps of pretreating wool, wool fibres or animal hair material in a process selected from the group consisting of plasma treatment processes and the Delhey process; and subjecting the pretreated wool or animal hair material to a treatment with a proteolytic enzyme (e.g., at least one protease of the present invention) in an amount effective for improving the properties.
• a proteolytic enzyme e.g., at least one protease of the present invention
• the proteolytic enzyme treatment occurs prior to the plasma treatment, while in other embodiments, it occurs after the plasma treatment.
• it is conducted as a separate step, while in other embodiments, it is conducted in combination with the scouring or the dyeing of the wool or animal hair material.
• At least one surfactant and/or at least one softener is present during the enzyme treatment step, while in other embodiments, the surfactant(s) and/or softener(s) are incorporated in a separate step wherein the wool or animal hair material is subjected to a softening treatment.
• the compositions of the present invention find us in methods for shrink-proofing wool fibers (See e.g., JP 4-327274).
• the compositions are used in methods for shrink-proofing treatment of wool fibers by subjecting the fibers to a low-temperature plasma treatment, followed by treatment with a shrink- proofing resin such as a block-urethane resin, polyamide epochlorohydrin resin, glyoxalic resin, ethylene-urea resin or acrylate resin, and then treatment with a weight reducing proteolytic enzyme for obtaining a softening effect).
• the plasma treatment step is a low-temperature treatment, preferably a corona discharge treatment or a glow discharge treatment.
• the low-temperature plasma treatment is carried out by using a gas, preferably a gas selected from the group consisting of air, oxygen, nitrogen, ammonia, helium, or argon. Conventionally, air is used but it may be advantageous to use any of the other indicated gasses.
• the low-temperature plasma treatment is carried out at a pressure between about 0.1 torr and 5 torr for from about 2 seconds to about 300 seconds, preferably for about 5 seconds to about 100 seconds, more preferably from about 5 seconds to about 30 seconds.
• the present invention finds use in conjunction with methods such as the Delhey process (See e.g., DE-A-43 32 692).
• the wool is treated in an aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide in the presence of soluble wolframate, optionally followed by treatment in a solution or dispersion of synthetic polymers, for improving the anti-felting properties of the wool.
• the wool is treated in an aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide (0.1-35% (w/w), preferably 2-10% (w/w)), in the presence of a 2-60% (w/w), preferably 8-20% (w/w) of a catalyst (preferably Na 2 WO ), and in the presence of a nonionic wetting agent.
• the treatment is carried out at pH 8-11 , and room temperature.
• the treatment time depends on the concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and catalyst, but is preferably 2 minutes or less.
• the wool is rinsed with water.
• the wool is further treated in acidic solutions of reducing agents (e.g., sulfites, phosphites etc.).
• the enzyme treatment step carried out for between about 1 minute and about 120 minutes. This step is preferably carried out at a temperature of between about 20 ° C. and about 60°C, more preferably between about 30°C. and about 50 ° C.
• the wool is soaked in or padded with an aqueous enzyme solution and then subjected to steaming at a conventional temperature and pressure, typically for about 30 seconds to about 3 minutes.
• the proteolytic enzyme treatment is carried out in an acidic or neutral or alkaline medium which may include a buffer.
• the enzyme treatment step is conducted in the presence of one or more conventional anionic, non-ionic (e.g., Dobanol; Henkel AG) or cationic surfactants.
• a useful nonionic surfactant is Dobanol (from Henkel AG).
• the wool or animal hair material is subjected to an ultrasound treatment, either prior to or simultaneous with the treatment with a proteolytic enzyme.
• the ultrasound treatment is carried out at a temperature of about 50°C for about 5 minutes.
• the amount of proteolytic enzyme used in the enzyme treatment step is between about 0.2 w/w % and about 10 w/w %, based on the weight of the wool or animal hair material.
• the enzyme treatment is carried out during dyeing and/or scouring of the wool or animal hair material, simply by adding the protease to the dyeing, rinsing and/or scouring bath.
• enzyme treatment is carried out after the plasma treatment but in other embodiments, the two treatment steps are carried out in the opposite order.
• Softeners conventionally used on wool are usually cationic softeners, either organic cationic softeners or silicone based products, but anionic or non-inoc softeners are also useful.
• useful softeners include, but are not limited to polyethylene softeners and silicone softeners (i.e., dimethyl polysiloxanes (silicone oils)), H-polysiloxanes, silicone elastomers, aminofunctional dimethyl polysiloxanes, aminofunctional silicone elastomers, and epoxyfunctional dimethyl polysiloxanes, and organic cationic softeners (e.g. alkyl quarternary ammonium derivatives).
• silicone softeners i.e., dimethyl polysiloxanes (silicone oils)
• H-polysiloxanes silicone elastomers
• aminofunctional dimethyl polysiloxanes aminofunctional silicone elastomers
• epoxyfunctional dimethyl polysiloxanes e.g. alkyl quarternary ammonium derivatives
• the present invention provides compositions for the treatment of an animal hide that includes at least one protease of the present invention.
• the proteases of the present invention find use in compositions for treatment of animal hide, such as those described in WO 03/00865 (Insect Biotech Co., Taejeon-Si, Korea).
• the present invention provides methods for processing hides and/or skins into leather comprising enzymatic treatment of the hide or skin with the protease of the present invention (See e.g., WO 96/11285).
• the present invention provides compositions for the treatment of an animal skin or hide into leather that includes at least one protease of the present invention.
• Hides and skins are usually received in the tanneries in the form of salted or dried raw hides or skins.
• the processing of hides or skins into leather comprises several different process steps including the steps of soaking, unhairing and bating. These steps constitute the wet processing and are performed in the beamhouse.
• Enzymatic treatment utilizing the proteases of the present invention are applicable at any time during the process involved in the processing of leather. However, proteases are usually employed during the wet processing (i.e., during soaking, unhairing and/or bating). Thus, in some preferred embodiments, the enzymatic treatment with at least one of the proteases of the present invention occurs during the wet processing stage.
• the soaking processes of the present invention are performed under conventional soaking conditions (e.g., at a pH in the range pH 6.0 - 11).
• the range is pH 7.0 -10.0.
• the temperature is in the range of 20-30 °C, while in other embodiments it is preferably in the range 24-28 °C.
• the reaction time is in the range 2-24 hours, while preferred range is 4-16 hours.
• tensides and/or preservatives are provided as desired.
• the second phase of the bating step usually commences with the addition of the bate itself.
• the enzymatic treatment takes place during bating.
• the enzymatic treatment takes place during bating, after the deliming phase.
• the bating process of the presents invention is performed using conventional conditions (e.g., at a pH in the range pH 6.0 -9.0).
• the pH range is 6.0 to 8.5.
• the temperature is in the range of 20-30° C, while in preferred embodiments, the temperature is in the range of 25-28°C.
• the reaction time is in the range of 20-90 minutes, while in other embodiments, it is in the range 40-80 minutes.
• the present invention provides bates comprising at least one protease of the present invention.
• a bate is an agent or an enzyme-containing preparation comprising the chemically active ingredients for use in beamhouse processes, in particular in the bating step of a process for the manufacture of leather.
• the 5 present invention provides bates comprising protease and suitable excipients.
• agents including, but not limited to chemicals known and used in the art, e.g. diluents, emulgators, delimers and carriers.
• the bate comprising at least one protease of the present invention is formulated as known in the art (See e.g. , GB- A2250289, WO 96/11285, and EP 0784703). o In some embodiments, the bate of the present invention contains from 0.00005 to
• the bate contains from 0.0002 to 0.004 g of active protease per g of bate.
• proteases of the present invention find use in numerous applications and settings. 5
• This assay was started using filtered culture supernatant from microtiter plates grown 4 days at 33 °C with shaking at 230 RPM and humidified aeration. A fresh 96-well flat bottom plate was used for the assay. First, 100 ⁇ L/well of 0.25 N HCl were placed in the wells. Then, 50 ⁇ L filtered culture broth were added to the wells. The light scattering/absorbance at 405 nm (use 5 sec mixing mode in the plate reader) was then determined, in order to provide the "blank" reading.
• the calculations were performed by subtracting the blank (i.e., no TCA) from the test reading with TCA. If desired, a standard curve can be created by calibrating the TCA readings with AAPF assays of clones with known conversion factors. However, the TCA results are linear with respect to protein concentration from 50 to 500 ppm and can thus be plotted directly against enzyme performance for the purpose of choosing good-performing variants.
• suc-AAPF-pNA in DMSO suc-AAPF-pNA stock solution
• suc-AAPF-pNA working solution 1 ml AAPF stock was added to 100 ml
• the assay was performed by adding 10 ⁇ l of diluted protease solution to each well, followed by the addition (quickly) of 190 ⁇ l 1 mg/ml AAPF-working solution. The solutions were mixed for 5 sec, and the absorbance change was read at 410 nm in an MTP reader, at 25°C.
• Reagent A 45.4 g Na 2 B 4 O 7 .10 H2O (Merck 6308) and 15 ml of 4N NaOH were dissolved together to a final volume of 1000 ml (by heating if needed)
• Reagent B 35.2 g NaH 2 PO .1 H 2 O (Merck 6346) and 0.6 g Na 2 SO 3 (Merck 6657) were dissolved together to a final volume of 1000 ml.
• keratin Prior to the incubations, keratin was sieved on a 100 ⁇ m sieve in small portions at a 30 time. Then, 10 g of the ⁇ 100 ⁇ m keratin was stirred in detergent solution for at least 20 minutes at room temperature with regular adjustment of the pH to 8.2. Finally, the suspension was centrifuged for 20 minutes at room temperature (Sorvall, GSA rotor, 13,000 rpm). This procedure was then repeated. Finally, the wet sediment was suspended in detergent to a total volume of 200 ml., and the suspension was kept stirred during pipetting.
• microtiter plates Prior to incubation, microtiter plates (MTPs) were filled with 200 ⁇ l substrate per well with a Biohit multichannel pipette and 1200 ⁇ l tip (6 dispenses of 200 ⁇ l and dispensed as fast as possible to avoid settling of keratin in the tips). Then, 10 ⁇ l of the filtered culture was added to the substrate containing MTPs. The plates were covered with tape, placed in an incubator and incubated at 20 °C for 3 hours at 350 rpm (Innova 4330 [New Brunswick]). Following incubation, the plates were centrifuged for 3 minutes at 3000 rpm (iSigma 6K 15 centrifuge). About 15 minutes before removal of the 1 st plate from the incubator, the TNBS reagent was prepared by mixing 1 ml TNBS solution per 50 ml of reagent A.
• MTPs were filled with 60 ⁇ l TNBS reagent A per well. From the incubated plates, 10 ⁇ l was transferred to the MTPs with TNBS reagent A. The plates were covered with tape and shaken for 20 minutes in a bench shaker (BMG Thermostar) at room temperature and 500 rpm. Finally, 200 ⁇ l of reagent B was added to the wells, mixed for 1 minute on a shaker, and the absorbance at 405 nm was measured with the MTP-reader.
• the obtained absorbance value was corrected for the blank value (substrate without enzyme).
• the resulting absorbance provides a measure for the hydrolytic activity.
• the performance index was calculated.
• the performance index compares the performance of the variant (actual value) and the standard enzyme (theoretical value) at the same protein concentration.
• the theoretical values can be calculated, using the parameters of the Langmuir equation of the standard enzyme.
• the PI identifies winners, as well as variants that are less desirable for use under certain circumstances.
• the detergent was filtered before use in the assay through a 0.22 ⁇ m filter (e.g. Nalgene top bottle filter).
• the detergent was filtered before use in the assay through a 0.22 ⁇ m filter (e.g. Nalgene top bottle filter).
• a 0.22 ⁇ m filter e.g. Nalgene top bottle filter
• Microswatches of %" circular diameter were ordered and delivered by CFT Vlaardingen. The microswatches were pretreated using the fixation method described below. Single microswatches were placed in each well of a 96-well microtiter plate vertically to expose the whole surface area (i.e., not flat on the bottom of the well).
• the solution was discarded and the swatches were rinsed 6 times with approximately 6 liters of distilled water each time.
• the swatches were placed on top of paper towels to dry.
• the air- dried swatches were punched using a %" circular die on an expulsion press.
• a single microswatch was placed vertically into each well of a 96-well microtiter plate to expose the whole surface area (i.e. not flat on the bottom of the well).
• the enzyme samples were tested at appropriate concentrations for the respective geography, and diluted in 10 mM NaCl, 0.005% TWEEN®-80 solution.
• the incubator was set at the desired temperature: -20 ° C for cold water liquid conditions; 30°C for low-pH liquid conditions; 40°C for European conditions; 20°C for Japanese and North American conditions.
• the pretreated and precut swatches were placed into the wells of a 96-well MTP, as described above.
• the enzyme samples were diluted, if needed, in 10 mM NaCl, 0.005% TWEEN®-80 to 20x the desired concentration.
• the desired detergent solutions were prepared as described above. Then, 190 ⁇ l of detergent solution were added to each well of the MTP. To this mixture, 10 ⁇ l of enzyme solution were added to each well (to provide a total volume to 200 ⁇ l/well).
• the MTP was sealed with a plate sealer and placed in an incubator for 60 minutes, with agitation at 350 rpm. Following incubation under the appropriate conditions, 100 ⁇ l of solution from each well were removed
• the new MTP containing 100 ⁇ l of solution/well was read at 405 nm in a MTP reader. Blank controls, as well as a control containing a microswatch and detergent but no enzyme were also included.
• the obtained absorbance value was corrected for the blank value (obtained after incubation of microswatches in the absence of enzyme).
• the resulting absorbance was a measure for the hydrolytic activity.
• the performance index was calculated.
• the performance index compares the performance of the variant (actual value) and the standard enzyme (theoretical value) at the same protein concentration.
• the theoretical values can be calculated, using the parameters of the Langmuir equation of the standard enzyme.
• the PI identifies winners, as well as variants that are less desirable for use under certain circumstances.
• PIPES buffer (free acid): Sigma P-1851 ; 15.1 g is dissolved in about 960 ml water; pH is adjusted : to 7.0 with 4N NaOH, 1 ml 5% TWEEN®- 80 is added and the volume brought up to 1000 ml.
• the final5 concentration of PIPES and TWEEN®-80 is 50 mM and
• TNBS Picrylsulfonic acid
• Reagent A 45.4 g Na 2 B 4 O 7 .10 H2O (Merck 6308) and 15 ml of 4N NaOH are dissolved together to a final volume of 1000 ml (byo heating if needed)
• Reagent B 35.2 g NaH 2 PO .1 H 2 O (Merck 6346) and 0.6 g Na 2 SO 3 (Merck
• the TNBS reagent was prepared by mixing 1 ml TNBS solution per 50 ml of reagent A. MTPs were filled with 60 ⁇ l TNBS reagent A per well. The incubated plates were shaken for a few seconds, after which 10 ⁇ l were transferred to the MTPs with TNBS reagent A. The plates were covered with5 tape and shaken for 20 minutes in a bench shaker (BMG Thermostar) at room temperature and 500 rpm. Finally, 200 ⁇ l reagent B were added to the wells, mixed for 1 minute on a shaker, and the absorbance at 405 nm was determined using an MTP-reader.
• This assay is based on the dimethylcasein hydrolysis, before and after heating of the buffered culture supernatant. The same chemical and reagent solutions were used as described in the dimethylcasein hydrolysis assay. o Method:
• the filtered culture supematants were diluted to 20 ppm in PIPES buffer (based on the concentration of the controls in the growth plates). Then, 50 ⁇ l of each diluted supernatant were placed in the empty wells of a MTP. The MTP plate was incubated in an iEMS incubator/shaker HT (Thermo Labsystems) for 90 minutes at 60°C and 400 rpm. Thes plates were cooled on ice for 5 minutes. Then, 10 ⁇ l of the solution was added to a fresh MTP containing 200 ⁇ l dimethylcasein substrate/well. This MTP was covered with tape, shaken for a few seconds and placed in an oven at 37 °C for 2 hours without agitation. The same detection method as used for the DMC hydrolysis assay was used. o Calculation of Thermostability:
• the residual activity of a sample was expressed as the ratio of the final absorbance and the initial absorbance, both corrected for blanks.
• LAS stability was measured after incubation of the test protease in the presence of 0.06% LAS (dodecylbenzenesulfonate sodium), and the residual activity was determined using the AAPF assay. 0
• TRIS buffer (free acid): Sigma T-1378); 6.35 g is dissolved in about 960 ml water; pH is5 adjusted to 8.2 with 4N HCl. Final concentration of TRIS is 52.5 mM.
• a 10 ⁇ l 0.063% LAS solution was prepared in 52.5 mM Tris buffer pH 8.2.
• the AAPF working solution was prepared by adding 1 ml of 100 mg/ml AAPF stock solution (in DMSO) to 100 ml (100 mM) TRIS buffer, pH 8.6.
• To dilute the supematants flat-bottomed plates were filled with dilution buffer and an aliquot of the supernatant was added ando mixed well. The dilution ratio depended on the concentration of the ASP-controls in the growth plates (AAPF activity).
• the desired protein concentration was 80 ppm.
• the AAPF activity was0 then determined as described above.
• the calculations were performed as follows: the % Residual Activity was [f-60 value]*100 / [M0 value].
• This Example provides a description of the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 used to initiallyo isolate the novel protease 69B4 provided by the present invention.
• the alkaliphilic micro- organism Cellulomonas strain 69B.4, (DSM 16035) was isolated at 37°C on an alkaline casein medium containing (g L "1 ) (See e.g., Duckworth et al., FEMS Microbiol. Ecol., 19:181- 191 [1996]).
• Complete GAM medium was prepared by mixing Solution A (800 ml) with Solution B (200 ml). Solid medium is prepared by the addition of agar (2% w/v).
• Culture broth was collected from the fermentor, and cells were removed by centrifugation for 30 min at 5000 x g at 10°C.
• the resulting supernatant was clarified by depth filtration over Seitz EKS (SeitzSchenk Filtersystems).
• the resulting sterile culture supernatant was further concentrated approximately 10 times by ultra filtration using an ultrafiltration cassette with a 10kDa cut-off (Pall Omega 10kDa Minisette; Pall).
• the resulting concentrated crude 69B4 samples were frozen and stored at -20°C until further use. Purification
• the cell separated culture broth was dialyzed against 20mM (2-(4-morpholino)- ethane sulfonic acid ("MES") ,pH 5.4, 1mM CaCI 2 using 8K Molecular Weight Cut Off (MWCO) Spectra-Por7 (Spectrum) dialysis tubing. The dialysis was performed overnight or until the conductivity of the sample was less than or equal to the conductivity of the MES buffer.
• the dialyzed enzyme sample was purified using a BioCad VISION(Applied Biosystems) with a 10x100mm(7.845 mL) POROS High Density Sulfo-propyl (HS) 20 (20micron) cation-exchange column (PerSeptive Biosystems).
• Protease activity in the fractions was monitored using the pNA assay (sAAPF-pNA assay; DelMar, et ai, supra). Protease activity which eluted at 40mM NaCl was concentrated and buffer exchanged(using a 5K MWCO VIVA Science 20mL concentrator) into 20mM MES, pH 5.8, 1mMCaCI2. This material was used for further characterization of the enzyme.
• Streptogrisin C homologues protein sequences of nine published serine proteases (Streptogrisin C homologues) were aligned, as shown in below.
• the sequences were Streptomyces griseus Streptogrisin C (accession no. P52320); alkaline serine protease precursor from Thermobifida fusca (accession no. AAC23545); alkaline proteinase (EC 3.4.21.-) from Streptomyces sp. (accession no. PC2053); alkaline serine proteinase I from Streptomyces sp. (accession no. S34672); serine protease from Streptomyces lividans (accession no. CAD4208); putative serine protease from
• Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) (accession no. NP_625129); putative serine protease from Streptomyces avermitilis MA-4680 (accession no. NP__822175); serine protease from Streptomyces lividans (accession no. CAD42809); putative serine protease precursor from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) (accession no. NP_628830). All of these sequences are publicly available from GENbank. These alignments are provided below. In this alignment, two conserved boxes are underlined and shown in bold.
• NP_625129 ( 1 ) MVGRHAAR-SRRAALTALGA VLTA PSAASAAPPPVPGPRPAVARTPDA
• NP_822175 ( 1 ) MVHRHVG—AGCAG SVLAT VLTGTjPAAAAIEPP-GPAPAPSAVQP GA
• NP_628830 ( 1 ) MPHRHRHH-RAVGAAVAAT AA LVAGLSGSASAGTAPAGSAPTAAET RT
• AAC23545 (31) AQE ALKRD GLSDAEVAELRAAEAEAVE EEE RDSLGSDFGGV PC2053 (42) AD PAGV DAMERD GLSEQEAGLKLVAEHDAA LGETLSAD DAFAGSW
• NP 625129 50
• ATAPARMLSAMERD RLAPGQAAAR VNEAEAGTRAGMLRNTLGDRFAGA
• NP_822175 48
• NPJ528830 50 DAAPPALLKAMQRDLGLDRRQAERRLVNEAEAGATAGRLRAALGGDFAGA
• NPJ525129 100 WVSGATSAELTVATTDAA.DTAAIEAQGAKAAVVGRNLAELRAVKEKLDAA
• NP_822175 (98 VHGAASADLTVATTHATDIPAITAGGATAVVVKTGLDDLKGAKKKLDSA
• NP_628830 100 WVRGAESGTLTVATTDAGDVAAIEARGAEAKVVRHSLADLDAAKARLDTA
• AAC23545 125 AD —ADPKVTGWYTDLESDAVVITTLRGGTPAAEELAERAGLDERAVRI
• NP_625129 150 AVR-TRTRQTPVWYVDVKTNRVTVQATG—ASAAAAFVEAAGVPAADVGV
• NP_822175 148 VAHGGTAVNTPVRYVDVRTNRVTLQARS—RAAADA IAAAGVDSGLVDV
• NP_628830 150 AAG- NTADAPV YVDTRTNTVVVEAI —PAAARSLLTAAGVDGSLAHV
• AAC23545 (173 VEEDEEPQSLAAIIGGNPYYFGN-YRCSIGFSVRQGSQTGFATAGHCGST
• NP_625129 (197 RVSPDQPRVLEDLVGGDAYYlDDQARCSIGFSVTKDDQEGFATAGHCGDP
• NP_822175 (196 KV ⁇ EDRPRALFDIRGGDAYYIDNTARCSVGFSVTKGNQQGFATAGHCGRA
• NP_628830 (197 KNRTERPRTFYDLRGGEAYYINNSSRCSIGFPITKGTQQGFATAGHCGRA
• AAC23545 (222 GTRVS SPSGTVAGSYFPGRDMGWVRITSADTVTPLVNRYNGGTVTV
• NP_625129 (247 GATTTGYNEADQGTFQASTFPGKDMA VGVNSD TATPDVKAEGGEKIQL
• NP_822175 (246 GAPTAGFNEVAQGTVQASVFPGHD A VGVN ⁇ D TATPDVAGAAGQNV ⁇ I
• NP_628830 (247 GSSTTGANRVAQGTFQGSIFPGRDMA VATNSSWTATPYVLGAGGQNVQV
• AAC23545 (268 TGSQEAATGSSVCRSGATTGWRCGTIQSKNQTVRYAEGTVTGLTRTTACA
• PC2053 (282 SGSTEAAVGASICRSGSTTC3 HCGTIQQHNTSVTYPEGTITGVTRTSVCA
• NP_625129 (297 AGSVEALVGASVCRSGSTTCSWHCGTIQQHDTSVTYPEGTVDGLTETTVCA
• NP_822175 (296 AGSVQAIVGAAICRSGSTTCSWHCGTVEEHDT ⁇ VTYEEGTVDGLTRTTVCA
• NP_628830 (297 TGSTASPVGASVCRSGSTTC3WHCGTVTQLNTSVTYQEGTISPVTRTTVCA
• NP_628830 (397) TGGDDGGGDDGGGDDGGEEPGG-TWAAGTVYQPGDTVTYGGATFRCLQGH
• NP_625129 441) QAQGVGSPASVPALWQRV (SEQ ID NO 652)
• primers TTGWXCGT_FW and GDSGGX_RV successfully amplified a 177 bp region from Cellulomonas sp. isolate 69B4 by PCR, as described below.
• Cellulomonas sp. isolate 69B4 genomic DNA was used as a template for PCR amplification of putative serine protease gene fragments using the above-described primers.
• PCR was carried out using High Fidelity Platinum Taq polymerase (Catalog number 11304- 102; Invitrogen). Conditions were determined by individual experiments, but typically thirty cycles were run in a thermal cycler (MJ Research). Successful amplification was verified by electrophoresis of the PCR reaction on a 1 % agarose TBE gel. A PCR product that was amplified from Cellulomonas sp.
• 69B4 with the primers TTGWXCGT_FW and GDSGGXJ V was purified by gel extraction using the Qiaquick Spin Gel Extraction kit (Catalogue 28704; Qiagen) according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• the purified PCR product was cloned into the commercially available pCR2.1TOPO vector System (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions, and transformed into competent E.coli TOP10 cells. Colonies containing recombinant plasmids were visualized using blue/white selection. For rapid screening of recombinant transformants, plasmid DNA was prepared from cultures of putative positive (i.e., white) colonies.
• DNA was isolated using the Qiagen plasmid purification kit, and was sequenced by Baseclear.
• One of the clones contained a DNA insert of 177 bp that showed some homology with several streptogrisin-like protease genes of various Streptomyces species and also with serine protease genes from other bacterial species.
• the DNA and protein coding sequence of this 177 bp fragment is provided in Fig. 13.
• EXAMPLE 4 Isolation of a Polynucleotide Sequence from the Genome of Cellulomonas 69B4 Encoding a Serine Protease by Inverse PCR
• 69B4int_RV1 ⁇ '-CGGGGTAGGTGACCGAGGAGTTGAGCGCAGTG-S' (SEQ ID NO: 14)
• 69B4int_FW2 5'-GCTCGCCGGCAACCAGGCCCAGGGCGTCACGTC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 15)o Chromosomal DNA of Cellulomonas sp.
• 69B4 was digested with the restriction enzymes Apal, SamHI, BssHW, Kpn ⁇ , Na ⁇ , Nco ⁇ , Nhe ⁇ , Pvu ⁇ , Sail or SstJI, purified using the Qiagen PCR purification kit (Qiagen, Catalogue # 28106) and self-ligated with T4 DNA ligase (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturers' instructions. Ligation mixtures were purified using the Qiagen PCR purification kit, and PCR was performed with primers5 69B4int_RV1 and 69B4int_FW2.
• This protease was designated as "69B4 protease," and the gene encoding Cellulomonas 69B4 protease was designated aso the "asp gene.”
• the entire sequence of the asp gene was derived by additional inverse PCR reactions with primer 69B40int_FW2 and an another primer: 69B4-for4 (5' AAC GGC GGG TTC ATC ACC GCC GGC CAC TGC GGC C 3' ⁇ SEQ ID NO: 6). Inverse PCR with these primers on ⁇ /col, SssHII, Apal and Pvul digested and self-ligated DNA fragments of genomic DNA of Cellulomonas sp. 69B4 resulted in the identification of the entire sequence5 of the asp gene.
• the DNA sequence of the asp gene (SEQ ID NO:1) provided below encodes the signal peptide (SEQ ID NO:9)o and the precursor serine protease (SEQ ID NO:7) derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035).
• the initiating polynucleotide encoding the signal peptide of the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 protease is in bold (ATG).
• the following DNA sequence encodes the signal peptide (SEQ ID NO:9) that is operatively linked to the precursor protease (SEQ ID NO:7) derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035).
• the initiating polynucleotide encoding the signal peptide of the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 protease is in bold (ATG).
• the asterisk indicates the termination codon (TGA), beginning with residue 1486.
• Residues 85, 595, and 1162 relate to the initial residues of the N terminal prosequence, mature sequence and Carboxyl terminal prosequence, respectively, are bolded and underlined.
• SEQ ID NO:3 encodes the precursor protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035). 1 AACGAGCCCG CACCACCCGG GAGCGCGAGC GCACCGCCAC GCCTGGCCGA GAAGCTCGAC
• SEQ ID NO:4 encodes the mature protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035).
• GCATGGCCCC GGCCGCACTT GGACGACCGG GTCCAGTTGT TGATGAGGCC ACCGGCGCAG
• the following DNA sequence encodes the signal peptide derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035) 1 ATGACACCAC CACAGTCAC GCGGGCCCTG GCCGTGGCCA CCGCAGCCGC CACACTCCTG TACTGTGGTG CGTGTCAGTG CGCCCGGGAC CGGCACCGGT GGCGTCGGCG GTGTGAGGAC 61 GCAGGCGGCA TGGCCGCCCA GGCC (SEQ ID NO: 5) CGTCCGCCGT ACCGGCGGGT CCGG
• the following sequence is the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:6) of the signal sequence and precursor protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035), including the signal sequence [segments 1a-c] (residues 1-28 [-198 to -171]), an N-terminal prosequence [segments 2a-r] (residues 29-198 [-170 to -1]), a mature protease [segments 3a-t] (residues 199-387 [1-189]), and a C-terminal prosequence [segments 4a-l] (residues 388-495 [190-398]) encoded by the DNA sequences set forth in SEQ ID NOS:1, 2, 3 and 4.
• the N-terminal sequence of the mature protease amino acid sequence is in bold.
• SEQ ID NO:7 is the amino acid sequence of the precursor protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035) ( SEQ ID NO:7).
• VNAASGSGAY TMGLTLP SEQ ID NO: 7
• SEQ ID NO:8 The following sequence (SEQ ID NO:8).is the amino acid sequence of the mature protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035). The catalytic triad residues H32, D56 and S132 are bolded and underlined. 1 FDVIGGNAYT IGGRSRCSIG FAVNGGFITA GHCGRTGATT ANPTGTFAGS
• SEQ ID NO:9 is the amino acid sequence ofthe signal peptide of the protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035).
• the following sequence is the degenerate primer used to identify a 177 bp fragment of the protease of Cellulomonas strain 69B4.
• TTGWXCGT_FW 5' ACNACSGGSTGGCRGTGCGGCAC 3' (SEQ ID NO: 10)
• SEQ ID NO:11 The following sequence (SEQ ID NO:11) is the reverse primer used to identity a 177 bp fragment of the protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4.
• GDSGGX_RV 5'-ANGNGCCGCCGGAGTCNCC-3' (SEQIDNO:11)
• a saturated sinapinic acid (3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxy cinnamic acid)("SA") solution in a 1 :1 v/v acetonitrile (“ACN”)/0.1% formic acid solution was prepared.
• the resulting mixture was vortexed for 60 seconds and then centrifuged for 20 seconds at 14,000 rpm. Then, 5 ⁇ l of the matrix supernatant was transferred to a 0.5 ml Eppendorf tube and 1 ⁇ l of a 10 pmole/ ⁇ l protease 69B4 sample was added to the SA matrix supernatant and vortexed for 5 seconds.
• a tryptic map was produced using methods known in the art (Christianson et al., Anal. Biochem. 223:119-29 [1994]), modified as described herein.
• the protease solution containing 10 - 50 ⁇ g protease was diluted 1 :1 with chilled water in a 1.5 ml microtube. 1.0 N HCl was added to a final concentration of 0.1 N HCl, mixed thoroughly and incubated for 10 minutes on ice. Then, 50% trichloro-acetic acid (“TCA”) was added to a final concentration of 10% TCA and mixed. The sample was incubated for 10 minutes on ice, centrifuged for two minutes and the supernatant discarded.
• TCA trichloro-acetic acid
• the solution was slowing diluted with 48 ⁇ l of a n-octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside solution ("o-water”) (200 mg of n-octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside [C 14 H 28 O 6 , f.w. 292.4] in 200 ml of water). Then, 2.0 ⁇ l of trypsin (2.5 mg/ml in 1 mM HCl) was added and the mixture was incubated for 15 minutes at 37 ° C. The proteolytic reaction was quenched with 6 ⁇ l of 10% trifluoroacetic acid ("TFA"). Insoluble material and bubbles were removed from the sample by centrifugation for one minute.
• TFA trifluoroacetic acid
• the tryptic digest was separate by RP-HPLC on 2.1 X 150 mm C-18 column (5 ⁇ l particle size, 300 angstroms pore size). The elution gradient was formed from 0.1% (v/v) TFA in water and 0.08% (v/v) TFA in acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.2 ml-min. The column compartment was heated to 50°C. Peptide elution was monitored at 215 nm and data were collected at 215 nm and 280 nm. The samples were then analyzed on a LCQ Advantage mass spectrometer with a Surveyor HPLC (both from Thermo Finnigan).
• the LCQ mass spectrophotometer was run with the following settings: Spray voltage: 4.5kV; Capillary temperature: 225° C. Data processing was performed using TurboSEQUEST and Xcalibur (ThermoFinnigan). Sequencing of the tryptic digest portions was also performed in part by Argo BioAnalytica. Analysis of the full sequence of the asp gene revealed that it encodes a prosequence protease of 495 amino acids (SEQ ID NO:6). The first 28 amino acids were predicted to form a signal peptide. The mass of the mature chain of 69B4 protease as produced by Cellulomonas strain 69B4 has a molecular weight of 18764 (determined by MALDI-TOF).
• the sequence of the N-terminus of the mature chain was also determined by MALDI-TOF analysis and starts with the sequence FDVIGGNAYTIGGR (SEQ ID NO:17). It is believed that the 69B4 protease has a unique precursor structure with NH 2 - and COOH terminal pro-sequences, as is known to occur with some other enzymes (e.g., T aquaticus aqualysin I; See e.g., Lee et al., FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 1 :69-74 [1994]; Sakamoto et al., Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 59:1438-1443 [1995]; Sakamoto et al., Appl.
• T aquaticus aqualysin I e.g., T aquaticus aqualysin I
• the prediction of the COOH terminal pro-sequence in 69B4 protease was also based on an alignment of the 69B4 protease with T. aquaticus aqualysin I, provided below. In this alignment, the amino acid sequence of the Cellulomonas 69B4 signal sequence and precursor protease are aligned with the signal sequence and precursor protease Aqualysin I of Thermus aquaticus (COOH- terminal pro-sequence of Aqualysin I is underlined and in bold).
• Aqualysin I (1) MRKTYWLMALFAVLVLGGCQMASRSDPTPTLAEAFWPKEAPVYGLD
• VPTWYVDVPTN ⁇ VVVAVKAGAQDVAAGLVEGADVPSDAVT — FVETDE
• Aqualysin I (493) YLWRIYAYSGSGMYEFWLQRP (SEQ ID NO: 644) 69B4 (475) YRYVVNAASGSGAYTMGLTLP (SEQ ID NO: 645) Consensus (501) Y W I A SGSG Y L P (SEQ ID NO :646)
• VPALWQRV Sg-StreptogrisinC mature (248 ) VPALWQRV (SEQ ID NO: 639)
• proteases homologous in protein sequence to the mature domain of ASP were searched for using BLAST. Those identified were then aligned using the multiple sequence alignment program clustalW.
• the numbers on the top of the alignment below refer to the amino-acid sequence of the mature ASP protease.
• the numbers at the side of the alignment are sequence identifiers, as described at the bottom of the alignment.
• Streptogrisin A (Streptomyces griseus)
• Subfamily S1 E unassigned peptidase (SalO protein) (Streptomyces lividans) 14 Subfamily S1 E unassigned peptidase (SALO protein) (Streptomyces coelicolor)

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