Patents Examined by Ganapathirama Raghu
  • Patent number: 10633675
    Abstract: The invention relates to the production of one or more terpenoids through microbial engineering, and relates to the manufacture of products comprising terpenoids.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignees: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore
    Inventors: Parayil K. Ajikumar, Gregory Stephanopoulos, Heng Phon Too
  • Patent number: 10626423
    Abstract: A non-naturally occurring microorganism having a 1,3-BDO pathway is provided. The microorganism expresses at least one of the following 1,3-BDO pathway enzymes: an aldolase that catalyzes condensation of two acetaldehydes to produce 3-hydroxybutanal; and an aldo-ketoreductase, oxidoreductase, aldehyde reductase or alcohol dehydrogenase that reduces 3-hydroxybutanal to 1,3-BDO. The organism may further express one or more enzymes for producing acetaldehyde. A biosynthetic process involves condensing two acetaldehyde molecules to 3-hydroxybutanal using an enzyme from class aldolases; and selectively reducing 3-hydroxybutanal to 1,3-BDO using an enzyme belonging to the class aldo-ketoreductase, oxidoreductase, aldehyde reductase or alcohol dehydrogenase. The process can further include producing acetaldehyde by a biosynthetic method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
    Inventors: Radhakrishnan Mahadevan, Alexander Yakunin, Pratish Gawand, Kayla Nemr
  • Patent number: 10624959
    Abstract: The invention provides reagents and methods for enzyme replacement therapy using chemically modified species of human cystathionine ?-synthase (CBS) to treat homocystinuria and other related diseases and disorders.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, A BODY CORPORATE
    Inventors: Jan P. Kraus, Tomas Majtan, Erez Bublil
  • Patent number: 10619139
    Abstract: Disclosed are nucleotide sequences encoding thioesterase enzymes, methods for their production, their use in methods to form thioesters, and their use in methods of screening for other wild type bacteria capable of producing said thioesterase enzymes. Also disclosed are compositions comprising thioesters produced by the methods disclosed herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignees: Givaudan SA, Utah State University, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Tarun Bhowmik, Jeff Broadbent, Dennis Welker, James Steele, Mateo Budinich
  • Patent number: 10611804
    Abstract: A method for producing heparosan is provided. Heparosan is produced by culturing an Escherichia bacterium having a heparosan-producing ability and modified so that expression of one or more genes, such as rbsR, rbsK, rbsB, hsrA, glgB, glgX, micF, rcsD, rcsB, ybiX, ybil, ybiJ, ybiC, ybiB, rfaH, nusG, pcoR, pcoS, pcoE, yhcN, yhcO, aaeB, aaeA, aaeX, g1455, alpA, g1453, yrbA, mlaB, mlaC, mlaD, mlaE, mlaF, yrbG, norW, ybjI, ybjJ, ybjK, rybB, yjjY, yjtD, thrL, thrA, thrB, fruA, psuK, ytfT, yjfF, fbp, yagU, paoA, paoB, gsiC, gsiD, yliE, irp2, irp1, bhsA, ycfS, lepB, rnc, era, dapA, gcvR, bcp, hyfA, rpoE, nadB, yfiC, srmB, g1414, g1413, nuoE, nuoF, nuoG, glmZ, hemY, hemX, hemD, rlmL, artQ, artM, artJ, rlmC, ybjO, yejO, yejM, yejL, rpoS, ygbN, ygbM, ygbL, g3798, g3797, g3796, g3795, g3794, g3793, g3792, ryjA, soxR, soxS, yjcC, yjcB, efeU, and efeO, is/are increased in a medium, and collecting heparosan from the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: AJINOMOTO CO., INC.
    Inventors: Shunsuke Yamazaki, Tomoko Shimizu, Kenichi Mori, Naoto Tonouchi
  • Patent number: 10612006
    Abstract: A method is provided for producing an objective substance, for example, an aromatic aldehyde such as vanillin. The objective substance is produced from a carbon source or a precursor of the objective substance by using a coryneform bacterium that is able to produce the objective substance, wherein bacterium has been modified so that the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: AJINOMOTO CO., INC.
    Inventors: Keita Fukui, Keiko Danjo, Junko Ito, Miku Toyazaki
  • Patent number: 10597684
    Abstract: The invention is directed to a non-naturally occurring microbial organism comprising a first attenuation of a succinyl-CoA synthetase or transferase and at least a second attenuation of a succinyl-CoA converting enzyme or a gene encoding a succinate producing enzyme within a multi-step pathway having a net conversion of succinyl-CoA to succinate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Genomatica, Inc.
    Inventors: Anthony P. Burgard, Robin E. Osterhout, Stephen J. Van Dien, Priti Pharkya, Tae Hoon Yang, Jungik Choi
  • Patent number: 10597690
    Abstract: Isolated and/or purified polypeptides and nucleic acid sequences encoding polypeptides from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius are provided. Further provided are methods of at least partially degrading, cleaving, or removing polysaccharides, lignocellulose, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, starch, chitin, polyhydroxybutyrate, heteroxylans, glycosides, xylan-, glucan-, galactan-, or mannan-decorating groups using isolated and/or purified polypeptides and nucleic acid sequences encoding polypeptides from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC
    Inventors: David N. Thompson, William A. Apel, Vicki S. Thompson, David W. Reed, Jeffrey A. Lacey, Emily D. Henriksen
  • Patent number: 10597631
    Abstract: While green algae are expected to serve as raw materials of biomass fuels, they are damaged by high-intensity light when subjected to mass-culture outdoors in summer, and biomass productivity is deteriorated as a consequence. In order to overcome such a drawback, the present invention provides a high-intensity light resistant green algae mutant that can be subjected to outdoor culture in summer. Specifically, the present invention relates to such green algae mutant, wherein functions or expression levels of a protein having a response regulatory domain at the N-terminus and a WD40 domain at the C-terminus are lower than those in a wild-type strain, and wherein said green algae mutant grows faster than a wild-type strain when cultured at a light intensity of 1,000, 1,500, or 2,000 ?mol photons m?2 s?1 measured as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shigeaki Harayama, Jumpei Hayakawa, Yoko Ide, Yuki Tanaka, Satoko Komatsu, Minoru Kurata
  • Patent number: 10597419
    Abstract: Disclosed are steviol glycosides referred to as rebaudioside V and rebaudioside W. Also disclosed are methods for producing rebaudioside M (Reb M), rebausoside G (Reb G), rebaudioside KA (Reb KA), rebaudioside V (Reb V) and rebaudioside (Reb W).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Conagen Inc.
    Inventors: Guohong Mao, Xiaodan Yu
  • Patent number: 10590367
    Abstract: The present invention relates to protease variants and methods for obtaining protease variants. The present invention also relates to polynucleotides encoding the variants; nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides; and methods of using the variants.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: NOVOZYMES A/S
    Inventors: Miguel Duarte Guilherme Pereira Toscano, Esben Peter Friis, Bena-Marie Lue
  • Patent number: 10590440
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the production of hydrolyzates from a lignocellulose-containing material, and to fermentation of the hydrolyzates. More specifically, the present invention relates to the detoxification of phenolic inhibitors and toxins formed during the processing of lignocellulose-containing material by enzymatically sulfating the phenolic inhibitors and toxins using aryl sulfotranseferases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: CysBio ApS
    Inventors: Christian Bille Jendresen, Alex Toftgaard Nielsen
  • Patent number: 10590443
    Abstract: The present invention addresses the problem of providing a method for effectively producing a target oil/fat that is rich in triglyceride, by using liberated by-products such as fatty acid ester originating from starting material oil/fat that is separated from the target oil/fat efficiently after the reaction when producing the target oil/fat that is rich in triglyceride by a transesterification reaction using, for example, oil/fat and fatty acid ester as starting materials.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: FUJI OIL HOLDINGS INC.
    Inventor: Shimpei Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10584143
    Abstract: Disclosed are steviol glycosides referred to as rebaudioside V and rebaudioside W. Also disclosed are methods for producing rebaudioside M (Reb M), rebausoside G (Reb G), rebaudioside KA (Reb KA), rebaudioside V (Reb V) and rebaudioside (Reb W).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Conagen Inc.
    Inventors: Guohong Mao, Xiaodan Yu
  • Patent number: 10584319
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a polymerase activity assay that produces a strong optical signal when a primer-template complex is extended to full-length product. The assay uses Cy3 as the molecular beacon and Iowa Black® RQ as the quencher. The signal-to-noise-ratio (STNR) of this donor-quencher pairing is ˜200-fold over background, which is considerably better than other donor-quencher pairs (STNRs ˜10-20-fold). The STNR allows for solution-based monitoring of polymerase activity. Because the sensor functions via Watson-Crick base pairing, the polymerase activity assay may also be used to evolve polymerases to accept xeno nucleic acids as substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
    Inventors: John Chaput, Andrew Larsen, Matthew Dunn
  • Patent number: 10577622
    Abstract: The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having beta-xylosidase activity and polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods of producing and using the polypeptides.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Novozymes Inc.
    Inventors: Yu Zhang, Ye Liu, Junxin Duan, Lan Tang, Brett McBrayer
  • Patent number: 10577595
    Abstract: The present invention provides methods and compositions comprising at least one neutral metalloprotease enzyme that has improved storage stability. In some embodiments, the neutral metalloprotease finds use in cleaning and other applications. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the present invention provides methods and compositions comprising neutral metalloprotease(s) obtained from Bacillus sp. In some more particularly preferred embodiments, the neutral metalloprotease is obtained from B. amyloliquefaciens. In still further preferred embodiments, the neutral metalloprotease is a variant of the B. amyloliquefaciens neutral metalloprotease. In yet additional embodiments, the neutral metalloprotease is a homolog of the the B. amyloliquefaciens neutral metalloprotease. The present invention finds particular use in applications including, but not limited to cleaning, bleaching and disinfecting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: DANISCO US INC
    Inventors: Andrew Shaw, David A Estell, Eugene S Sadlowski, Hiroshi Oh, Louise Wallace, Ronaldus Wilhelmus Joannes Hommes, Sang-Kyu Lee
  • Patent number: 10570423
    Abstract: Disclosed is a process for producing at least one metabolite of interest by conversion of a pentose in a microorganism. The process includes at least: (i) an operation of culturing a recombinant microorganism expressing a synthetic pathway for pentose assimilation which includes at least the following steps: a) phosphorylation in position 1 of a pentose chosen from (D)-xylulose and/or (L)-ribulose, b) cleavage of the pentose-1-phosphate obtained at the end of step a), in order to obtain glycolaldehyde and dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP), and (ii) an operation of recovering the at least one metabolite of interest obtained at the end of the culturing operation (i). Also disclosed is an associated microorganism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignees: INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE AGRONOMIQUE—INRA, INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES APPLIQUEES—INSA, CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE
    Inventors: Thomas Walther, Yvan Cam, Jean-Marie Francois, Ceren Alkim
  • Patent number: 10570420
    Abstract: This invention relates generally to methods and compositions for producing a sesquiterpene alcohol comprising contacting a sesquiterpene with a P450 polypeptide with monooxygenase activity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Firmenich SA
    Inventors: Laurent Daviet, Letizia Rocci, Michel Schalk
  • Patent number: 10563271
    Abstract: The present invention provides a genetically modified lactic acid bacterium capable of producing diacetyl under aerobic conditions. Additionally the invention provides a method for producing diacetyl using the genetically modified lactic acid bacterium under aerobic conditions in the presence of a source of iron-containing porphyrin and a metal ion selected from Fe3+, Fe2+ and Cu2+. The lactic acid bacterium is genetically modified by deletion of those genes in its genome that encode polypeptides having lactate dehydrogenase (E.C 1.1.1.27/E.C.1.1.1.28); ?-acetolactate decarboxylase (E.C 4.1.1.5); water-forming NADH oxidase (E.C. 1.6.3.4); phosphotransacetylase (E.C.2.3.1.8) activity; and optionally devoid of or deleted for genes encoding polypeptides having diacetyl reductase ((R)-acetoin forming; EC:1.1.1.303); D-acetoin reductase; butanediol dehydrogenase ((R,R)-butane-2,3-diol forming; E.C. 1.1.1.4/1.1.1.-) and alcohol dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.2.1.10) activity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Danmarks Tekniske Universitet
    Inventors: Christian Solem, Peter Ruhdal Jensen, Jianming Liu