Opinion ID: 1034626
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alpha-Amylase Enzymes

Text: The ’723 patent, entitled “Alpha-Amylase Mutants with Altered Properties,” relates to recombinant enzyme technology. Enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions, that is, they facilitate molecular processes that either would not occur or would occur much more slowly in the enzyme’s absence. Living cells produce different enzymes to carry out a vast array of metabolic functions. For example, one enzyme might help to join the molecular building blocks needed to make a new DNA molecule, while another might break a complex molecule, such as a carbohydrate, into useful constituent parts. Like all proteins, enzymes are composed of amino acid molecules linked together to form a continuous chain. An enzyme’s primary structure is defined by the sequence of amino acid molecules in the chain; in general, each individual position in the amino acid sequence can consist of any one of twenty amino acids normally found in nature. In addition, the linear amino acid chains of different 4 NOVOZYMES A/S v. DUPONT NUTRITION BIOSCIENCES enzymes will bend, fold, and loop onto themselves to assume characteristic three-dimensional conformations. Both the primary amino acid sequence and the threedimensional structure affect an enzyme’s ultimate functional properties. Alpha-amylases constitute a class of enzymes synthesized by a variety of organisms—from bacteria to fungi to humans—that break down large molecules known as polysaccharides. Polysaccharides, such as starch and glycogen, are defined as long-chain polymers made of repeating simple sugar molecules like glucose, among others. Alpha-amylases sever the bonds between adjacent sugars in a polysaccharide to yield single or short-chain simple sugars that can provide energy or be used as building blocks for other cellular processes. On average, alpha-amylase enzymes comprise approximately 500 amino acids. Beyond a widespread role in natural systems, alphaamylases also have important commercial applications in detergent formulations, sugar refining, and ethanol production, among other uses. Of particular note, many alpha-amylases derived from bacteria of the genus Bacillus exhibit exceptional enzymatic activity, which has made those bacterial enzymes attractive for commercial use. One such product is a preparation of alpha-amylase derived from B. licheniformis (“BLA”) that Novozymes markets under the name Termamyl™.