Abstract: A method of producing a lipid, comprising steps of introducing a gene that encodes the following protein (a) or (b) into a host, and thereby obtaining a transformant, and collecting a lipid from the transformant: (a) A protein comprising an amino acid sequence of the 112nd to 414th amino acids set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 in which an amino acid corresponding to the 209th amino acid set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 is substituted from tryptophan to threonine, glutamic acid or alanine, and having thioesterase activity, and (b) A protein comprising an amino acid sequence of the protein (a) in which one to several amino acids other than the amino acid corresponding to the 209th amino acid set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 are deleted, substituted, inserted or added, and having thioesterase activity.

Abstract: A method of producing a lipid, comprising steps of introducing a gene that encodes the following protein (a) or (b) into a host, and thereby obtaining a transformant, and collecting a lipid from the transformant: (a) A protein comprising an amino acid sequence of the 112nd to 414th amino acids set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 in which an amino acid corresponding to the 209th amino acid set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 is substituted from tryptophan to threonine, glutamic acid or alanine, and having thioesterase activity, and (b) A protein comprising an amino acid sequence of the protein (a) in which one to several amino acids other than the amino acid corresponding to the 209th amino acid set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 are deleted, substituted, inserted or added, and having thioesterase activity.

Abstract: The present invention provides a modified promoter, an expression vector and a transformant each containing the promoter, and a method for producing a gene product of interest using the transformant. The invention provides a modified promoter, including a nucleotide sequence of a promoter derived from bacterium belonging to the genus Bacillus in which at least one nucleotide sequence selected from the following has been modified: a nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1; a nucleotide sequence equivalent to the nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, except that one or a plurality of bases therein are substituted, deleted, added or inserted; and a nucleotide sequence having a sequence identity of 70% or more with respect to the nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1.

Abstract: The present invention provides a modified promoter, an expression vector and a transformant each containing the promoter, and a method for producing a gene product of interest using the transformant. The invention provides a modified promoter, including a nucleotide sequence of a promoter derived from bacterium belonging to the genus Bacillus in which at least one nucleotide sequence selected from the following has been modified: a nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1; a nucleotide sequence equivalent to the nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, except that one or a plurality of bases therein are substituted, deleted, added or inserted; and a nucleotide sequence having a sequence identity of 70% or more with respect to the nucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1.