Abstract: The present invention relates to an amidase enzyme, nucleic acids encoding the amidase, as well as methods of employing the nucleic acids and/or amidase to produce, for example, enantiomericallyenriched compounds such as D-amino acids.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an amidase enzyme, nucleic acids encoding the amidase, as well as methods of employing the nucleic acids and/or amidase to produce, for example, enantiomericallyenriched compounds such as D-amino acids.

Abstract: Novel improved enzymes prepared by recombination, especially to rec-FDHs. Directed evolution has made it possible to generate catalytically more active and more stable muteins which can preferably be used in an industrial process for the preparation of e.g. amino acids. The invention further relates to the nucleic acids coding for these enzymes, to vehicles containing these nucleic acids and to advantageous primers for the preparation of the nucleic acids by means of PCR. The invention additionally relates to a process for the preparation of further improved rec-FDHs, and a method of screening more stable and/or more active dehydrogenases is claimed.

Abstract: The invention relates to new mutants of formate dehydrogenase from Candida boidinii, new gene sequences encoding these and use of the new formate dehydrogenases. The wild type FDH used hitherto in the industrial process for preparing amino acids becomes inactive after a certain time. New mutants of this wild type have been produced by targeted mutagenesis of a recombinant FDH from E. coli. The new mutants are preferably used in an enzymatic process for preparing chiral compounds.