Abstract: [Problem] To provide a bacterial cellulose which is highly dispersible in a liquid, shows excellent molding properties and high miscibility with other materials when applied to materials, and, therefore, has a high applicability as a practical material, and a bacterium which produces the bacterial cellulose. [Solution] A bacterial cellulose, water that contains said bacterial cellulose at a final concentration of 0.1±0.006 (w/w) showing a light transmittance at a wavelength of 500 nm of 35% or greater, and a bacterium producing the bacterial cellulose. According to the present invention, the bacterial cellulose that is uniformly dispersible in a liquid such as water can be obtained. The bacterial cellulose shows excellent molding properties and high miscibility with other materials and, therefore, can contribute to the improvement in the qualities of a final product or production efficiency thereof or to the reduction of production cost.

Abstract: An endoscope includes: an insertion portion; a bending portion provided in the insertion portion; an operation portion connected to the insertion portion; a grasp-assistance portion provided on the operation portion, a bending operation knob provided on one side face of the operation portion and rotating centering on a rotation axis; a plurality of function switches that are provided on a face different from the one side face, and each upper-side side face protrudes further than an outermost diametrical path of the bending operation knob; and a switch root portion constituting a root portion of a function switch disposed at a position on the distal-most end side among the plurality of function switches, and disposed further on the proximal end side than an intersection point on the distal end side among two intersection points at which the outermost diametrical path and a switch-disposing face intersect.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficiently producing a polyester copolymer consisting of 3-hydroxybutyrate and lactate via microbial fermentation with the use of a sugar as a starting material. The method may comprise culturing a recombinant microorganism expressing: a protein capable of catalyzing the transfer of CoA to propionic acid and/or lactate; a protein capable of catalyzing the formation of acetoacetyl-CoA from two acetyl-CoA molecules; a protein capable of catalyzing acetoacetyl-CoA reduction; and a protein capable of catalyzing polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis. According to the production method, a polyester copolymer consisting of 3-hydroxybutyrate and lactate can be efficiently produced using an inexpensive carbon source as a starting material, and thus the production cost of a biodegradable plastic can be reduced.

Abstract: Disclosed is a copolymer resin composition including a lactic acid copolymer, the lactic acid copolymer containing monomer units represented by the following chemical formulas [1], [2], and [3], wherein a content of a monomer unit represented by the chemical formula [3] is 50 mol % or more and 95 mol % or less, a weight-average molecular weight of the lactic acid copolymer is 20,000 or more and 1,000,000 or less, and a deflection temperature of the lactic acid copolymer under load is 65° C. or higher and 100° C. or lower at a bending stress of 1.80 MPa.

Abstract: A coating nozzle for a high-viscosity paint is equipped with an introduction passage, an inner space, and a nozzle slit, which communicate with one another, and sprays a coating body with the high-viscosity paint from the nozzle slit in a radial direction. The nozzle slit is constructed in a sectional shape having a predetermined angle in a plan view. When the nozzle slit is regarded as having the sectional shape, an arc of the sectional shaped nozzle slit serves as a nozzle slit outlet. The nozzle slit outlet has a nozzle slit outlet width equal to or larger than 35 mm and a flattening equal to or smaller than 0.01 where a slit height represents a clearance of the nozzle slit outlet, the nozzle slit outlet width represents a chord of the arc, and the flattening represents a ratio of the slit height to the nozzle slit outlet width.

Abstract: Problem to be Solved: To provide a new microorganism capable of producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a PHA synthase gene, an expression cassette including the gene, a vector including the expression cassette, a transformant transformed by the vector, a polypeptide having PHA synthase activity, a method for producing a PHA synthase and a method for producing a PHA. Solution: The new microorganism is capable of producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate comprising a 16S rRNA gene whose polynucleotide sequence shows 99% or more homology to a polynucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID No: 1, having an optimum temperature of an activity temperature range for the growth and PHA production of the microorganism of at least 45° C. and being capable of growing at a pH range from 6 to 10.

Abstract: In the method for separating and purifying histidine from a culture containing the amino acid, the culture containing histidine and microbial cells is charged onto the top of a column filled with a carrier particle whose particle size is 420 ?m or more and which has an ability to adsorb histidine and then an eluent is passed through the column whereby accomplishing the separation and purification of histidine, and preferably in the step mentioned above, a strong acid cation exchange resin is employed as a carrier particle whereby accomplishing the separation and purification of histidine.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for acyltransferase reaction in which an acyl group of acyl coenzyme A is transferred to an acyl group receptor characterized in that the reaction is carried out by production and/or reproduction of acyl coenzyme A from coenzyme A in a reaction system by a chemical thioester exchange reaction with acylthioester. The present invention, wherein expensive acyl CoA is reproduced nonenzymatically in a reaction system, enables to continuously carry out acyltransferase reaction only by putting a small amount of acyl CoA with a donor and a receptor of an acyl group into a system. Accordingly, the method of the present invention can be applied to an industrial production method of various kinds of compounds including useful biological molecules and synthesis of polymers such as polyester.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficiently producing a polyester copolymer consisting of 3HB and LA via microbial fermentation with the use of a sugar as a starting material.