Abstract: This invention relates to a process for the fermentation of bile which includes the step of cultivating one or more aerobic microorganisms which have the ability to selectively degrate bile acids or bile acid conjugates contained in bile. The fermentation is carried out in a cultivation medium containing or consisting of unfractionated bile under aerobic conditions to prepare a compound of the formula ##STR1## wherein .about. is a bond chosen from one which is alpha or beta to the ring, X is chosen from hydrogen, hydroxyl or oxo, may be either a double or single bond, and R is selected from oxo, hydroxy or a propionic acid residue, attached at the 2-position ##STR2## The invention also includes within its scope certain compounds as described herein prepared by the process of the invention.

Abstract: Disclosed and claimed is an improved microbial bioconversion to produce 1,2-dehydro steroids from their corresponding 1,2-saturated derivatives.

Abstract: Improved bioconverting strain of Streptomyces thermotolerans useful in preparing tylosin esters and new antibacterial macrocin or lactenocin ester derivatives of the formula: ##STR1## wherein R is formyl or hydroxymethyl; R.sup.1 is hydrogen, acetyl or propionyl; R.sup.2 is hydrogen or ##STR2## and R.sup.3 is hydrogen, acetyl, propionyl, n-butyryl or isovaleryl; provided that one of R.sup.1 or R.sup.3 must be other than hydrogen.

Abstract: Production of undesired desacetylcephalosporin C during fermentation of cephalosporin C-producing microorganisms is substantially reduced by addition of certain phosphorous compounds to the culture medium.

Abstract: A microbial process for producing 12.alpha.-hydroxypregna-1,4-dien-3-one-20.alpha.-carboxylic acid or a salt thereof which comprises cultivating a microbe of the species Pseudomonas arvilla or the genus Alcaligenes, e.g. Alcaligenes faecalis, which is capable of producing 12.alpha.-hydroxypregna-1,4-dien-3-one-20.alpha.-carboxylic acid or a salt thereof by utilizing deoxycholic acid or a salt thereof as a substrate, in a culture medium containing the substrate and collecting the resulting compound.

Abstract: DNA sequences which are capable of expressing a polypeptide with the ability to catabolize L-tartrate are incorporated into suitable vectors and used to transform both prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts.

Abstract: A novel plasmid pATM3 is obtainable from a microorganism belonging to the genus Streptomyces. The plasmid pATM3 is useful as a cloning vector in recombinant DNA work.

Abstract: A molecule of double-stranded DNA having a length of about 35 base pairs has been removed from the first 150 base pairs at the 3'-end of Avian sarcoma viral DNA. This molecule binds to E. coli RNA polymerase and acts as a promoter of gene expression in E. coli. E. coli cells have been transformed with cloning vehicles which include this promoter DNA molecule and enhanced gene expression has been observed in the transformed cells. By including the promoter DNA molecule in cloning vehicles along with a gene associated with the production of a desired chemical product, such as proinsulin, the polypeptide A or B chains of insulin, the polypeptide portion of interferon, a growth hormone, an enzyme or an antibody, it will be possible to obtain enhanced production of such desired chemical products.

Abstract: New acetylesterases are prepared from Aureobasidium pullulans IFO 4466 which are capable of hydrolyzing cephalosporin C to deacetylcephalosporin C.

Abstract: A novel plasmid, named pSAN 181, has a molecular weight of 5.+-.0.2 megadaltons and single cleavage sites for each of the restriction endonucleases BamHI, PstI, XhoI and BglII, the positions of said sites being 0, about 0.85, about 1.15 and about 3.95 megadaltons from the cleavage site of BamHI. The plasmid is extracted from mycelia of microorganisms of the species Streptomyces fulvoviridis, especially the strain Streptomyces fulvoviridis FERM P-6279, and is useful as a vector for genetic engineering.

Abstract: A DNA sequence encoding human antithrombin III, cloning vehicles and cells containing that DNA sequence.

Abstract: Process for the production of a disaccharide-tripeptide and disaccharide-tetrapeptide which comprises applying an endo-N-acetylmuramidase from Streptomyces globisporus and a D-alanyl-meso-2,6-diaminopimelic acid endopeptidase from Streptomyces nitrosporeus SK (FERM BP-216) or Streptomyces globisporus to hydrolyze cell walls of bacteria such as Lactobacillus plantarum and Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Said process can give the desired disaccharide-tripeptide and disaccharide-tetrapeptide having excellent pharmacological activities such as immunostimulant activity and potentiating activity of nonspecific resistance to bacterial infections in the form of a single compound (i.e. not mixture thereof) in a high yield.

Abstract: A composite plasmid which comprises (A) a drive-unit region derived from a plasmid a capable of propagating in a Coryneform glutamic acid-producing bacterium, and (B) a gene fragment derived from a plasmid b capable of propagating in Escherichia coli or Bacillus subtilis and having at least a region expressing drug resistance.

Abstract: A biologically pure mutant of C. thermoaceticum (ATCC No. 39,289) useful for the production of acetic acid by a fermentation reaction. This mutant is capable of growing at a pH below 5.0 and shows a specific growth rate of at least 0.30 hr.sup.-1 when continuously cultured under optimum conditions.

Abstract: The present invention discloses functionally independent selectable recombinant DNA cloning vectors for use in Streptomyces.

Abstract: A 4-cyclopentenone of the formula: ##STR1## wherein R is a lower alkyl group, a lower alkenyl group or a lower alkynyl group and R' is a hydroxyl group or an aliphatic acyloxy group, provided that in case of the dl-form, R' is not a hydroxyl group and also that the substituent R at the 2-position and the methyl group at the 3-position take a cis-configuration in the dl-, d- or l-form.

Abstract: Preparation of 1,2-dihydroxy-cyclohexadienes by a biochemical process using strains of Pseudomonas putida. The dihydroxy compounds can be converted into novel 1,2-disubstituted-cyclohexadienes. Certain of the novel compounds are useful as intermediates for the production of polymers.

Abstract: Disclosed is the novel bacteriophage TG1, TG1 derivatives, and the corresponding genome or nucleic acid components of such bacteriophages and derivatives of such genome, which are useful as DNA cloning vectors into organisms, such as bacteria, for example, Streptomyces cattleya NRRL 8057; portions of such phage genome are additionally useful as adjuncts in recombinant DNA cloning procedures, for example: (1) to permit the maintenance of cloned DNA in the host, either in an integrated state or as an autonomous element; (2) to serve as promoters for increasing expression of endogenous or foreign genes wherein said promoters are ligated to such genes or otherwise serve as promoters; and (3) to serve as regulatory elements for achieving control over endogenous and foreign gene expression; as cloning vectors, TG1, its deletion mutants, and other derivatives serve for the amplification and transfer of DNA sequences (genes) coding for useful functions, for example, genes necessary for the production of the antibioti

Abstract: Plasmid pAC 1, which is obtained from Acremonium chrysogenum ATCC 14553 and has a contour length of about 6.7 .mu.m and a molecular size of about 20.9 kilobases (=kb), a process for obtaining it and its use for preparing a hybrid vector which promotes the biosynthesis of .beta.-lactam antibiotics.

Abstract: A method for stabilizing and selecting host cells containing recombinant DNA which expresses a functional polypeptide and the novel organisms and cloning vectors for the practice thereof. The invention further provides a simple, convenient, and inexpensive method to lyse host cells for purification of intracellular products.