Patent ID: 7432100

Claim:
An isolated protein having an aldolase activity which catalyzes at least one aldol condensation reaction selected from the group consisting of (a) reaction of indole-3-pyruvic acid with pyruvic acid to yield 4-(indol-3-ylmethyl)-4-hydroxy-2-oxoglutaric acid having an optical activity due to the 4-asymmetric carbon, and (b) reaction of phenylpyruvic acid with pyruvic acid to yield 4-phenylmethyl-4-hydroxy-2-oxoglutaric acid having an optical activity due to the 4-asymmetric carbon, and which comprises the following amino acid sequences (A) or (B): (A) in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, an amino acid sequence substituted at one or both one amino acid residue selected from the following items (a) and (b): (a) substitution of another amino acid residue for the 37th arginine residue; (b) substitution of another amino acid residue for the 99th leucine residue; (B) in the amino acid sequence of (A), an amino acid sequence having the substitution, deletion, insertion and/or addition of one to 30 amino acid residues at the positions other than 37, 67, 71, 97, 98, 99, 100, 119, 120, 139, 141, 189, 192, 193, and 209.