Patent ID: 7473544

Claim:
An isolated protein comprising the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 3, or polypeptide that is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO: 3, wherein the polypeptide comprises at least one modification (a) through (e), and wherein the polypeptide exhibits an alkaline protease activity and/or detergency higher than that of the alkaline protease of SEQ ID NO: 3: (a) substitution, with an amino acid residue selected from the group consisting of lysine, threonine, asparagine, glutamine, valine, leucine, or isoleucine, of the amino acid residue at position 133 or at a position corresponding thereto; (b) insertion of an amino acid residue between the amino acid residues at positions 133 and 134 or at positions corresponding thereto; (c) substitution, with an amino acid residue, of the amino acid residue at original position 134 (as used herein, the “original position” refers to the position before insertion) or at a position corresponding thereto; (d) substitution, with an amino acid residue, of the amino acid residue at original position 135 or at a position corresponding thereto; and (e) substitution, with an amino acid residue, of the amino acid residue at position 132 or at a position corresponding thereto.