Abstract: The present invention provides a novel in vitro prediction system of a phospholipidosis inducing potential of a novel drug-caused phospholipidosis marker gene and a drug. Specifically, the invention provides a reagent for prediction of a phospholipidosis inducing potential of a compound containing a nucleic acid capable of detecting the expression of a gene having the same or substantially the same base sequence as the base sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 or 23. Furthermore, the invention provides a method for predicting a phospholipidosis inducing potential of a compound, which includes detecting the expression of two or more genes showing expression variation in correlation with phospholipidosis expression in a mammalian cell exposed to a test compound.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a new immortalized hepatocyte culture of human (preferably human fetal) normal cell origin. The immortalized hepatocyte culture of human normal cell origin of the present invention is useful in, for example, screening for compounds or salts thereof having therapeutic/preventive effects on hepatic insufficiency.

Abstract: This invention relates to cell lines that are obtained using cultured cell lines derived from human liver as a host and that stably express a number of human cytochromes P450. The human liver-derived cultured cell lines of the present invention are useful in, for example, analyzing an enzyme participating in the metabolism of xenobiotics or endogenous substrates, because of their stable expression of human cytochromes P450 CYP1A1, 1A2, 2A6, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C9, 2D6, and 3A4.

Abstract: There is provided an economical, efficient and industrially useful method of producing vitamin B.sub.12 which comprises cultivating a microorganism belonging to Rhizobium cobalaminogenum FERM BP-4429 which is capable of producing vitamin B.sub.12 in a culture medium and recovering the vitamin B.sub.12. The microorganism is isolated from soil and has no formation of acids from L-arabinose. Further, there are no straight chain fatty acids 21:1 or 19:0.

Abstract: There is provided an economical, efficient and industrially useful method of producing vitamin B.sub.12 which comprises cultivating a microorganism belonging to Rhizobium cobalaminogenum which is capable of producing vitamin B.sub.12 in a culture medium to produce vitamin B.sub.12 and recovering the produced vitamin B.sub.12. There are also provided a microorganism belonging to Rhizobium cobalaminogenum which is capable of producing vitamin B.sub.12 and a microorganism Rhizobium cobalaminogenum 27B74 (FERM BP-4429).

Abstract: Uridine is produced by cultivating in a culture medium a uridine-producing microorganism, which belongs to the genus Bacillus and which is deficient in uridine nucleoside phosphorylase activity and is resistant to a pyrimidine analogue, and recovering the accumulated uridine. This method has the advantage of substantially avoiding the by-production of uracil and uridylic acid.

Abstract: Cytidine and/or deoxycytidine are produced at high yields by culturing cytidine deaminase activity-defective microbes of the genus Bacillus, which have resistance to pyrimidine analogs and with the ability to produce cytidine and/or deoxycytidine in a medium.