Novel carbonyl reductase, gene therefor and use thereof

Abstract

The present invention is to provide a process for efficiently producing an optically active alcohol including (R)-3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanenitrile. One of the features of the present invention is a polypeptide having an activity of asymmetrically reducing 3-oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile isolated from a microorganism belonging to the genus Candida to product (R)-3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanenitrile, DNA encoding the polypeptide and a transformant of producing the polypeptide. Another feature of the present invention is a process for producing an optically active alcohol such as (R)-3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanenitrile by reducing a carbonyl compound such as 3-oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile by use of the polypeptide or the transformant.

1 . An isolated polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:
 (a) an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, and   (b) an isolated polypeptide with at least 90% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2, and wherein said polypeptide has an activity of asymmetrically reducing 3-oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile represented by the formula (1) below;   
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         to produce (R)-3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanenitrile represented by the formula (2) below;