Patent ID: 6472188
Filing Date: 2002-10-29
Classification: C12P,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for producing various optically active (R)-(âˆ’)-hydroxycarboxylic acids comprising the steps of:a) synthesizing and accumulating polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in a cell of a microorganism by culturing the microorganism having an intracellular polyhydroxyalkanoate depolymerase activity in a medium; b) collecting the cultured microorganism from the medium; c) contacting the collected cultured microorganism with a degradation solution free of carbon source wherein PHA accumulated in the cell of the microorganism is subjected to microbial enzyme degradation into the corresponding monomers and the produced monomers are secreted into solution; and d) separating the produced monomer from the solution.