Patent ID: 7361507

Claim:
A method for modulating nitrilase selectivity of a nitrilase enzyme chosen from the group consisting of nitrilase p Athalia 1 of Arabidopsis thaliana (SEQ ID NO: 6), nitrilase p Athalia 2 of Arabidopsis thaliana (SEQ ID NO: 7), nitrilase p Athalia 3 of Arabidopsis thaliana (SEQ ID NO: 8), nitrilase p Athalia 4 of Arabidopsis thaliana (SEQ ID NO: 12), nitrilase p Tobacco 1 of Nicotiana tabacum (SEQ ID NO: 9), nitrilase p Tobacco 2 of Nicotiana tabacum (SEQ ID NO: 10), nitrilase b RhodocJ1 of Rhodococcus rhodocrous J1 (SEQ ID NO: 13), nitrilase b RrhodoPA3 of Rhodococcus rhodocrous PA34 (SEQ ID NO: 14), nitrilase b RrhodocK22 of Rhodococcus rhodocrous K22 (SEQ ID NO: 16), nitrilase b Kozaenae of Klebsiella ozaenae (SEQ ID NO: 17) and nitrilase NitA of Comamonas testosteroni (SEQ ID NO: 18), wherein nitrilase selectivity is defined as the percentage of compounds not having a carboxylic function that are released by the nitrilase-catalyzed hydrolysis of a nitrile, comprising replacing the amino acid corresponding to position 162 of SEQ ID NO: 19 (primary sequence of nitrilase NitB of Alcaligenes faecalis ) in the nitrilase with a cysteine, wherein the amino acid corresponding to position 162 of SEQ ID NO: 19 in the nitrilase prior to replacement is not cysteine.