SORBITOL KINASE, PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME, AND SUBSTANTIALLY PURE MICROORGANISM

摘要

A sorbitol kinase having at least the following physicochemical properties: 1) enzymatic action: utilizing mainly ATP, but not substantially phosphoenolpyruvate, as the phosphate donor catalyzing the following reaction: sorbitol + ATP } sorbitol 6-phosphate + ADP; (2) substrate specificity: having the substrate specificity for sorbitol; (3) N-terminal amino acid sequence: containing the following sequence: Met-Arg-Ile-Gly-Ile-Asp-Leu-Gly-Gly-Thr-Lys-Thr-Glu-Val-Ile-Ala-Leu-Ser-Glu-Gln; (4) thermostability: stable at least up to 60 DEG C when a 100 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH: 8.5, containing 0.5 U/ml of sorbitol kinase) is heated for 15 minutes at various temperatures and the residual activity is measured.