1. A nucleic acid cassette comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a bidirectional marker, said nucleic acid cassette further comprising a basic transcriptional unit operatively linked to the nucleic acid sequence encoding the, bidirectional marker and said nucleic acid cassette further comprising an inducible enhancer or activator sequence linked to the basic transcription unit in such a manner that upon induction of the enhancer or activator sequence the bidirectional marker encoding nucleic acid sequence is expressed, said inducible enhancer or activator sequence being derived from a gene associated with activity of part of metabolism, said inducible enhancer or activator sequence preferably being derived from a gene associated in a part of metabolism with an enzyme cascade or feed back loop or multiple feed back loops.
2. A nucleic acid cassette according to claim 1, wherein the bidirectional marker is selected from the group consisting of the facB, the NiaD, the AmdS, the Can1, the Ura3, the Ura4 and the PyrA genes and homologues thereof.
3. A nucleic acid cassette according to claim 2, wherein the bidirectional marker is selected from the group consisting of the facB gene of Aspergillus nidulans, the NiaD gene of Aspergillus niger, the NiaD gene of Aspergillus oryzae, the AmdS gene of Aspergillus nidulans, the Can1 gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the Ura3 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Ura4 gene of Saccharomyces pombe and the PyrA genes of Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Penicillium, Fusarium. Saccharomyces and Kluyveromyces.
4. A nucleic acid casette according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the inducible enhancer or activator sequence is normally involved in regulation of an enzyme cascade.
5. A nucleic acid cassette according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the inducible enhancer or activator sequence is the Upstream Activating Sequence (UAS) as comprised on any of the following fragments of nucleic acid:
a fragment originating from the promoters of the abfA, abfB and abna genes encoding respectively arabinofuranosidase A, arabinofuranosidase B and endoarabinase,
a fragment originating from the glaa gene encoding glucoamylase,
a fragment containing the alcR binding site such as on the alcR and alcA promoter,
a fragment originating from the CUP1 gene,
a fragment originating from the PH05 gene
a fragment originating from the GAL1, GAL7 or GAL10 genes,
a fragment originating from the xlnA gene
a fragment originating from the pgaII gene.
6. A nucleic acid cassette according to any of the preceding claims, wherein
the inducible enhancer or activator sequence is the Upstream Activating Sequence (UAS) as comprised on any of the following fragments of nucleic acid:
a fragment originating from the promoters of the abfA, abfB and abnA genes encoding respectively arabinofuranosidase A, arabinofuranosidase B and endoarabinase of Aspergillus niger
a fragment originating from the glaA gene encoding glucoamylase of Aspergillus niger,
a fragment containing the alcR binding site such as on the alcR promoter of Aspergillus nidulans,
a fragment originating from the CUP1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
a fragment originating from the PH05 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
a fragment originating from the GAL1, GAL7 or GAL10 genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
a fragment originating from the xlnA, xlnB, xlnC or xlnD genes of Aspergillus nidulans,
a fragment originating from the xlnB, xlnC or xlnD genes of Aspergillus niger,
a fragment originating from the xlnA or xlnD genes of Aspergillus tubigensis.
a fragment originating from the pgaII gene of Aspergillus niger.
7. A nucleic acid cassette according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the inducible enhancer or activator sequence is normally involved with carbon metabolism.
8. A method for preparing and selecting a mutant strain of microorganism, said mutation enhancing a predetermined part of metabolism in comparison to the non mutated strain, said method comprising
introducing into a host a nucleic acid cassette according to any of the preceding claims,
said host not exhibiting the phenotype associated with expression of the bidirectional marker prior to introduction of the nucleic acid cassette,
culturing a resulting microorganism under conditions wherein the enhancer or activator sequence comprised on the nucleic acid cassette is normally active and under conditions wherein the bidirectional marker is expressed,
selecting a transformant that exhibits the phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene under the aforementioned culturing conditions,
subjecting the selected transformant to mutagenesis in a manner known per se,
culturing the resulting strain under conditions acceptable for a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker and under conditions that in the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in non-expression of the bidirectional marker and in the presence of a metabolisable substrate for the predetermined part of metabolism,
selecting a strain resulting from the cultivation step following mutagenesis that exhibits a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene under selection conditions that for the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in non-expression of the bidirectional marker.
9. A method according to claim 8, wherein
the inducible enhancer or activator sequence is the Upstream Activating Sequence (UAS) derived from the gene xlnA
the predetermined part of the metabolism is the xylanolytic part of carbon metabolism,
the culturing step wherein the resulting microorganisms are cultivated under conditions wherein the enhancer or activator sequence is normally active and wherein the bidirectional marker is expressed comprises cultivation in the presence of inducer of UAS and absence of repressor of UAS and a metabolisable source of carbon.
the selecting of a transformant that exhibits the phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene occurs under the aforementioned culturing conditions,
the culturing step after mutagenesis of the selected transformant occurs under conditions acceptable for a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker and under conditions that in the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in non-expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. in the presence of repressor of UAS and in the presence of a metabolisable source of carbon and optionally also in the presence of inducer of UAS,
the selection of a strain resulting from the cultivation step following mutagenesis said strain exhibiting a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene occurs under selection conditions that for the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in non-expression of the bidirectional marker.
10. A method according to claim 9, wherein
the nucleic acid cassette comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding the bidirectional marker pyrA.
the host does not exhibit the pyrA phenotype associated with expression of the bidirectional marker prior to introduction of the nucleic acid cassette,
the culturing step wherein the resulting microorganisms are cultivated under conditions wherein the enhancer or activator sequence is normally active and wherein the bidirectional marker is expressed comprises cultivation under conditions wherein the enhancer or activator is normally active i.e. in the presence of inducer of the enhancer or activator and in the absence of repressor of the enhancer or activator and under conditions wherein the bidirectional marker is expressed,
the selecting of a transformant that exhibits the phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene occurs under the aforementioned culturing conditions,
the culturing step after mutagenesis of the selected transformant occurs under conditions acceptable for a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker and under conditions that in the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in non-expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. in the absence of inducer of the enhancer or activator or in the presence of repressor of the enhancer or activator and in the presence of a metabolisable substrate for the predetermined part of metabolism, the selection of a strain resulting from the cultivation step following mutagenesis of a strain that exhibits a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene occurs under selection conditions that for the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in non-expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. in the absence of inducer of the enhancer or activator or the presence of repressor of the enhancer or activator.
11. A method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein
the nucleic acid cassette comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding the bidirectional marker pyrA,
the host does not exhibit the pyrA phenotype associated with expression of the bidirectional marker prior to introduction of the nucleic acid cassette,
the inducible enhancer or activator sequence is the UAS derived from the gene xlnA,
the culturing step wherein the resulting microorganisms are cultivated under conditions wherein the enhancer or activator sequence is normally active and wherein the bidirectional marker is expressed comprises cultivation under conditions wherein UAS is normally active i.e. in the presence of inducer of UAS such as xylose or xylan and in the absence of repressor of UAS i.e. absence of glucose and under conditions wherein the bidirectional marker is expressed,
the selecting of a transformant that exhibits the phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene occurs under the aforementioned culturing conditions,
the culturing step after mutagenesis of the selected transformant occurs under conditions acceptable for a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker and under conditions that in the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in non-expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. in the absence of inducer of UAS such as xylose or xylan or in the
presence of repressor of UAS i.e. in the presence of glucose and in the presence of a metabolisable source of carbon,
the selection of a strain resulting from the cultivation step following mutagenesis of a strain that exhibits a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene occurs under selection conditions that for the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in non-expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. in the absence of inducer of UAS such as xylose or xylan or the presence of repressor of UAS i.e. in the presence of glucose.
12. A method for preparing and selecting a non recombinant mutant strain of microorganism, said mutation enhancing a predetermined part of metabolism in comparison to the non mutated strain, said method comprising carrying out the steps of the method according to any of the preceding claims followed by crossing out in a manner known per se the nucleic acid of the introduced nucleic acid cassette.
13. A method for preparing and selecting a mutant strain of microorganism, said mutation inhibiting a predetermined part of the metabolism in comparison to the non mutated strain, said method comprising
introducing into a host a nucleic acid cassette according to any of claims 1-7,
said host not exhibiting the phenotype associated with expression of the bidirectional marker prior to introduction of the nucleic acid cassette and said host exhibiting activity of the type characterising the predetermined part of metabolism to be reduced or inhibited,
culturing a resulting microorganism under conditions wherein enhancer or activator sequence is normally active and wherein non expression of the bidirectional marker will result in growth and detection of the resulting microorganism and wherein expression of the bidirectional marker will preferably be lethal or strongly inhibit growth.
selecting a transformant that exhibits the phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene under the aforementioned culturing conditions
subjecting the selected transformant to mutagenesis in a manner known per se.
culturing the strain resulting from the mutagenesis under conditions acceptable for growth of a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the non expression of the bidirectional marker and in the presence of a metabolisable substrate and under conditions that illustrate the reduced or inhibited activity of the predetermined part of metabolism in comparison to the non mutated host either with or without the nucleic acid cassette,
selecting a strain resulting from the cultivation step following mutagenesis that exhibits a phenotype corresponding to the reduced or inhibited activity of the predetermined part of the metabolism under selection conditions that illustrate the reduced or inhibited activity of the predetermined part of metabolism in comparison to the non mutated host with or without nucleic acid cassette such as a reduced zone of clearing upon growth on a substrate which serves as a substrate for the part of metabolism for which the activity is to be reduced or inhibited.
14. A method according to claim 13, wherein
the inducible enhancer or activator sequence is the Upstream Activating Sequence (UAS) derived from the gene xlnA
the predetermined part of the metabolism is the xylanolytic part of carbon metabolism,
the culturing step wherein the resulting microorganisms are cultivated under conditions wherein the enhancer or activator sequence is normally active and wherein the bidirectional marker is expressed comprises cultivation in the absence of repressor of UAS, in the presence of a metabolisable source of carbon and preferably also in the presence of inducer of UAS,
the selecting of a transformant that exhibits the phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene occurs under the aforementioned culturing conditions,
the culturing step after mutagenesis of the selected transformant occurs under conditions acceptable for growth and detection of a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the non expression of the bidirectional marker, under conditions that are unacceptable for growth and detection of a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. in the presence of uridine and fluoro-orotic acid and under conditions that in the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in activity of the predetermined part of the carbon metabolism i.e. in the presence of inducer of UAS and a metabolisable carbon source and the absence of repressor of UAS for example the presence of D-xylose or an alternative non repressing source of carbon in combination with an inducer like xylan or D-xylose,
the selection of a strain resulting from the cultivation step following mutagenesis that exhibits a phenotype corresponding to the reduced or inhibited activity of the predetermined part of the carbon metabolism occurs under selection conditions that illustrate the reduced or inhibited activity of the predetermined part o’P carbon metabolism in comparison to the non mutated host either with or without the nucleic acid casette such as a reduced zone of clearing upon growth on xylan.
15. A method according to claim 14, wherein
the nucleic acid cassette comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding the bidirectional marker pyrA,
the host does not exhibit the pyrA phenotype associated with expression of the bidirectional marker prior to introduction of the nucleic acid cassette,
the culturing step wherein the resulting microorganisms are cultivated under conditions wherein the enhancer or activator sequence is normally active and wherein the bidirectional marker pyrA is expressed i.e. comprises cultivation in the presence of inducer of the enhancer or activator and in the absence of repressor of the enhancer or activator and under conditions wherein the bidirectional marker pyrA is expressed,
the selecting of a transformant that exhibits the phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene pyrA occurs under the aforementioned culturing conditions,
the culturing step after mutagenesis of the selected transformant occurs under conditions acceptable for growth and detection of a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the non expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. pyrA phenotype, under conditions that are unacceptable for growth and detection of a strain with a pyrA phenotype, such a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. such conditions comprising the presence of uridine and fluoro-orotic acid and under conditions that in the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in activity of the predetermined part of the metabolism i.e. in the presence of inducer of the enhancer or activator and a metabolisable substrate and the absence of repressor of the activator or enhancer or an alternative non repressing substrate in combination with an inducer.
16. A method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein
the nucleic acid cassette comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding the bidirectional marker pyrA,
the host does not exhibit the pyrA phenotype associated with expression of the bidirectional marker prior to introduction of the nucleic acid cassette,
the inducible enhancer or activator sequence is the UAS derived from the gene xlnA
the culturing step wherein the resulting microorganisms are cultivated under conditions wherein the enhancer or activator sequence is normally active and wherein the bidirectional marker pyrA is expressed comprises cultivation under conditions wherein UAS is normally active i.e. in the presence of inducer of UAS such as xylose or xylan and in the absence of repressor of UAS i.e. absence of glucose and under conditions wherein the bidirectional marker pyrA is expressed,
the selecting of a transformant that exhibits the phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker gene pyrA occurs under the aforementioned culturing conditions,
the culturing step after mutagenesis of the selected transformant occurs under conditions acceptable for growth and detection of a strain with a phenotype corresponding to the non expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. pyrA phenotype, under conditions that are unacceptable for growth and detection of a strain with a pyrA phenotype, such a phenotype corresponding to the expression of the bidirectional marker i.e. such conditions comprising the presence of uridine and fluoro-orotic acid and under conditions that in the non mutated parent comprising the nucleic acid cassette result in activity of the predetermined part of the carbon metabolism i.e. in the presence of inducer of HAS and a metabolisable carbon source and the absence of repressor of UAS for example the presence of D-xylose or an alternative non repressing source of carbon in combination with an inducer like xylan,
the selection of a strain resulting from the cultivation step following mutagenesis that exhibits a phenotype corresponding to the reduced or inhibited activity of the predetermined part of the carbon metabolism occurs under selection conditions that illustrate the reduced or inhibited activity of the predetermined part of carbon metabolism in comparison to the non mutated host, either with or without the nucleic acid cassette such as a reduced zone of clearing upon growth on xylan.
17. A method for preparing and selecting a non recombinant mutant strain of microorganism, said mutation inhibiting a predetermined part of metabolism in comparison to the non mutated strain, said method comprising carrying out the steps of the method according to any of claims 13-16 followed by crossing out in a manner known per se the nucleic acid of the introduced nucleic acid cassette.
18. A method for determining the identity and nucleic acid sequence of the activating regulator of an inducible enhancer or activator sequence comprising
carrying out a complementation test in a manner known per se wherein transformation of a host obtained according to any of claims 13-16 with parts of the genome of the non mutated parent strain not comprising the nucleic acid cassette sequence occurs in a manner known per se, followed by
selection of an activator positive transformant on the basis of expression of the bidirectional marker and
comparison of the nucleic acid from the activator positive transformant with the nucleic acid of the mutant obtained in the method of claims 13-16 in a manner known per se and identification and isolation of nucleic acid comprising a fragment present in the activator positive transformant and mutated in the activator negative mutant in a manner known per se.
19. A method according to any of the claims 8-18, wherein the host prior to introduction of the nucleic acid cassette comprises nucleic acid corresponding at least in part to the nucleic acid sequence encoding the bidirectional marker, said correspondence being to a degree sufficient to allow homologous recombination in the chromosome of the bidirectional marker encoding nucleic acid comprised on the nucleic acid cassette.
20. A combination nucleic acid cassette comprising
1) a promoter normally associated with a target gene of an activating regulator of an inducible enhancer of activator sequence,
2) the nucleic acid sequence encoding the regulator being operably linked to a further promoter.
3) a homologous or heterologous sequence encoding a homologous or heterologous protein or peptide.
said promoter (1) being operably linked to the homologous or heterologous encoding sequence, in particular such activating regulator being involved in metabolism, more specifically such activating regulator being involved in a part of metabolism with an enzyme cascade or feed back loop or multiple feed back loops and such target gene having a binding site for the expression product of the regulator gene.
21. A combination nucleic acid cassette according to claim 22 wherein the further promoter operably linked to the regulator encoding nucleic acid sequence is a promoter associated natively with the regulator encoding nucleic acid sequence.
22. A combination nucleic acid cassette according to claim 20 or 21 wherein the nucleic acid sequence encoding the regulator encodes a xylanolytic regulator, preferably the nucleic acid sequence encodes xylR.
23. A combination nucleic acid cassette according to any of claims 21-22 wherein the nucleic acid sequence encoding the regulator is a nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 41-46 or encoding a polypeptide or protein according to any of claims 47-56.
24. A combination nucleic acid cassette according to any of claims 20-23, wherein the promoter (1) is selected from a promoter associated with the target genes xlnA, xlnB, xlnC, xlnD and axeA.
25. A combination nucleic acid cassette according to any of claims 20-24, wherein the promoter (1) is a promoter associated with the target gene xlnD.
26. A combination nucleic acid cassette according to any of claims 20-25, wherein the homologous or heterologous sequence encodes an enzyme.
27. A combination nucleic acid cassette according to any of claims 20-26, wherein the homologous or heterologous sequence encodes a xylanase, glucanase, -glucuronidase, lipase, esterase, ferulic acid esterase, a protease or an oxidoreductase such as hexose oxidase.
28. A vector comprising a combination nucleic acid cassette according to any of claims 20-27.
29. A host cell comprising a combination nucleic acid cassette according to any of claims 20-27 andor a vector according to claim 28.
30. A host cell comprising the components of claim 20, said host cell comprising a target gene of the regulator either natively or through recombinant DNA technology with the proviso that when the target gene and the regulator are native to the host cell the regulator is present in multiple copies.
31. A host cell comprising multiple copies of the nucleic acid sequence encoding the regulator as defined in claim 20 or the nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 41-46.
32. A host cell according to any of claims 29-31 comprising the nucleic acid sequence encoding the regulator as defined in claim 20 or the nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 41-46 and the promoter (1) as defined in claim 20, said promoter being a promoter associated with the target gene xlnD.
33. A host cell according to any of claims 29-32 being selected from the group comprising microorganisms and plant cells.
34. A host cell according to any of claims 29-33 being selected from fungal cells, preferably filamentous fungal cells.
35. A host cell according to any of claims 29-34, said host cell being selected from the genus Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Penicillium and Fusarium.
36. A host cell according to any of claims 29-35, said host cell being a strain selected from Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus tubigensis, Aspergillus aculeatus, Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus sydowii, Aspergillus kawachii, Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus japonicus.
37. A host cell according to any of claims 29-35, said host cell being a strain belonging to a genus selected from Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces and Lactobacillus.
38. A host cell according to claim 37, said, host cell being a strain selected from Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Saccharomyces pombe.
39. A host cell according to any of claims 29-38 wherein the target gene is endogenous to the host cell.
40. A host cell according to any of the claims 29-39, wherein the target gene is present in multiple copies.
41. A nucleic acid sequence xlnR encoding the expression product xylR according to the encoding nucleic acid sequence of sequence id no 9
42. An equivalent of the encoding nucleic acid sequence according to claim 41, said equivalent, sequence capable of hybridising under specific minimum stringency conditions as defined in the Examples to primers or probes of nucleic acid sequence id no 9, said primers or probes being present in the non zinc finger binding region and said primers or probes being at least 20 nucleotides in length.
43. An equivalent of the encoding nucleic acid sequence according to claim 41 or a nucleic acid sequence according to claim 42, said equivalent sequence capable of hybridising under specific minimum stringency conditions as defined in the Examples to the encoding nucleic acid sequence id no 9.
44. A nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 41-43 encoding an expression product exhibiting 80%-100% identity with the amino acid sequence of xylR according to sequence id no 9 or as encoded by the nucleic acid sequence encoding xylR of sequence id no 9.
45. A nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 41-44 encoding the amino acid sequence of seq id no 9.
46. A nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 42-45 wherein the sequence comprises deletion andor substitution in one or more fragments of the sequence in comparison to the encoding nucleic acid sequence of sequence id no 9.
47. Amino acid sequence of sequence id no 9.
48. Amino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 41-46.
49. Amino acid sequence equivalent to the amino acid sequence according to claim 47 or 48, wherein the identity of the equivalent will be 80-100%, preferably 85-100%, more preferably 90-100%, most preferably 95-100in comparison to the amino acid sequence of sequence id no 9.
50. Amino acid sequence according to any of claims 47-49, wherein the equivalent expression product should possess DNA binding activity, preferably such DNA binding activity should be such that the expression product binds to the nucleic acid sequence of the target gene to the same degree or better than the expression product with the amino acid sequence provided in sequence id no 9 binds to the nucleic acid sequence of the target gene.
51. An amino acid sequence according to any of claims 48-50 wherein the amino acid sequence comprises deletion andor, substitution in one or more fragments of the amino acid sequence in comparison to the amino acid sequence of sequence id no 9.
52. An amino acid sequence according to any of claims 48-51 comprising at least the C terminal half of the amino acid sequence from the zinc finger binding region.
53. An amino acid sequence according to any of claims 48-52 said amino acid sequence comprising a fragment corresponding to a Zn finger binding region.
54. An amino acid sequence according to any of claims 48-53 said amino acid sequence comprising an amino acid sequence corresponding to the RRRLWW motif.
55. An amino acid sequence according to any of the claims 48-54 wherein no mutation is present in the zinc finger binding region corresponding to the amino acid sequence encoded by nucleotides at position 1110 to 1260 in sequence id no 9.
56. An amino acid sequence according to any of the claims 48-55 wherein no mutation is present in the RRRLWW motif corresponding to the motif RRRLWW present in the amino acid sequence of sequence id no 9.
57. A mutant host cell comprising deletion or mutation of the regulator encoding sequence, said regulator being an activating regulator of an inducible enhancer or activator sequence, such activating regulator being involved in metabolism and the expression product of the gene encoding the regulator having a binding site on a target gene, more specifically said regulator being involved in a part of metabolism with an enzyme cascade or feedback loop or multiple feedback loops, such that the regulator is not expressed or is inactive as regulator, a so-called knockout mutant host cell.
58. A mutant host cell according to claim 57 further comprising a homologous or heterologous sequence encoding a protein or peptide that can be obtained free of xylanolytic side activities.
59. A method for producing a heterologous or homologous protein or polypeptide free of xylanolytic side activities comprising culturing a knockout mutant according to claim 57 or 58 in a manner known per se and obtaining the resulting heterologous or homologous protein.
60. Use of a combination nucleic aced cassette according to any of claims 20-27 for production of the homologous or heterologous protein or peptide in a manner known per se for producing protein or peptide from nucleic acid sequences encoding protein or peptide.
61. Use of a nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 41-46 for overexpression of a target gene by expressing the nucleic acid sequence in a host cell comprising the target gene operably linked to a promoter normally associated with a target gene of the activating regulator of an inducible enhancer or activator sequence encoded by the nucleic acid sequence according to any of claims 41-46, with the proviso that when the target gene and the nucleic acid sequence according to of claims 41-46 are native to the host cell the sequence according to any of claims 41-46 is present in multiple copies in comparison to the wild type host cell.
62. Use of a host cell according to any of claims 29-40 for production of the homologous or *heterologous protein or peptide in a manner known per se for producton of protein or peptide from a nucleic acid sequence encoding a protein or peptide.
63. A nucleic acid fragment to be used as primer or probe, said fragment having a nucleic acid sequence as present: in nucleic acid sequence id no 9, but not as present in the zinc finger binding region of sequence id. no. 9 and said fragment being at least 20 nucleotides in length.
64. A nucleic acid fragment according to claim 63 said fragment further comprising a nucleic acid sequence as present in the C-terminal encoding half of the sequence of id no 9 from the zinc finger binding region.
65. A combination of two or more fragments according to claim 63 or 64 in a kit for detecting andor isolating equivalent sequences of sequence id no 9.
66. A combination according to claim 65, wherein one fragment comprises a part of the nucleic acid sequence not encoding the zinc finger domain.
67. A mutant of an amino acid sequence according to sequence id no 9 with a mutation in the zinc finger binding domain exhibiting increased DNA binding.
68. A mutant of an amino acid sequence according to sequence id no 9 with a mutation exhibiting decreased DNA binding
69. A mutant of an amino acid sequence according to sequence id no 9 with a mutation in the zinc finger binding domain, said mutant exhibiting decreased DNA binding.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A control device for a voltage converter capable of a voltage conversion between a power storage device and a load device,
said voltage converter comprising:
a first switching element and a second switching element connected in series between an electric power line for said load device and a ground line;
a first rectifying element and a second rectifying element connected in parallel with said first switching element and said second switching element respectively, with a forward direction being defined as a direction from said ground line toward said electric power line; and
a reactor provided on a path connecting a connection node of said first switching element and said second switching element, and a positive terminal of said power storage device, and
said control device comprising:
a current command calculation unit configured to calculate a current command value of a current flowing through said reactor by performing feedback control of a voltage between said electric power line and said ground line;
a selection unit configured to select one of said first switching element and said second switching element in accordance with said current command value; and
a drive command generation unit configured to generate a drive command for the switching element selected by said selection unit; wherein
said selection unit selects said second switching element when said current command value represents a direction from said power storage device toward said load device, and selects said first switching element when said current command value represents a direction from said load device toward said power storage device.
2. The control device for a voltage converter according to claim 1, wherein
said voltage converter has a first mode and a second mode as operation modes,
in said first mode, a voltage conversion is performed by driving the switching element selected by said selection unit,
in said second mode, a voltage conversion is performed by driving both said first switching element and said second switching element,
said voltage converter further comprises a voltage detector for detecting a voltage between said electric power line and said ground line,
said control device further comprises a reference value calculation unit configured to calculate a current range in which said first mode is executed, based on the voltage detected by said voltage detector, and
said selection unit causes said first mode to be executed when said current command value falls in said current range, and causes said second mode to be executed when said current command value falls out of said current range.
3. The control device for a voltage converter according to claim 2, wherein
said voltage converter further comprises a current detector configured to detect a reactor current flowing through said reactor,
said control device further comprises:
a current control unit configured to perform feedback control based on a comparison between said current command value and said reactor current; and
a gain calculation unit configured to be capable of making a feedback gain variable of said current control unit in accordance with said current command value, and
when said first mode is executed, said gain calculation unit makes said feedback gain larger relative to when said second mode is executed.
4. The control device for a voltage converter according to claim 2, wherein
said control device further comprises an intermittent drive control unit configured to reduce a drive number representing the number of times said first switching element and said second switching element are driven per unit time, in accordance with said current command value, when said first mode is executed.
5. The control device for a voltage converter according to claim 4, wherein
when said first mode is executed, said intermittent drive control unit sets an ON period of said first switching element and said second switching element longer relative to when said drive number is not reduced, and sets said drive number per unit time so that an average value of said reactor current along a time axis is equal to said current command value.
6. The control device for a voltage converter according to claim 4, wherein
when said first mode is executed, said intermittent drive control unit performs control so that a carrier frequency for controlling switching of said first switching element and said second switching element is reduced.
7. The control device for a voltage converter according to claim 2, wherein
said control device further comprises a load calculation unit configured to detect a load variation of said load device, and
when said load variation falls out of a reference range, said selection unit causes said second mode to be executed regardless of said current command value.
8. A vehicle comprising:
a power storage device;
a rotating electric machine for generating a drive force to propel said vehicle;
an inverter for driving said rotating electric machine;
a voltage converter configured to be capable of a voltage conversion between said power storage device and said inverter; and
a control device for controlling said voltage converter,
said voltage converter comprising:
a first switching element and a second switching element connected in series between an electric power line for said inverter and a ground line;
a first rectifying element and a second rectifying element connected in parallel with said first switching element and said second switching element, respectively, with a forward direction being defined as a direction from said ground line toward said electric power line; and
a reactor provided on a path connecting a connection node of said first switching element and said second switching element and a positive terminal of said power storage device, and
said control device comprising:
a current command calculation unit configured to calculate a current command value of a current flowing through said reactor by performing feedback control of a voltage between said electric power line and said ground line;
a selection unit configured to select one of said first switching element and said second switching element in accordance with said current command value; and
a drive command generation unit configured to generate a drive command for the switching element selected by said selection unit; wherein
said selection unit selects said second switching element when said current command value represents a direction from said power storage device toward said inverter, and selects said first switching element when said current command value represents a direction from said inverter toward said power storage device.
9. The vehicle according to claim 8, wherein
said voltage converter has a first mode and a second mode as operation modes,
in said first mode, a voltage conversion is performed by driving the switching element selected by said selection unit,
in said second mode, a voltage conversion is performed by driving both said first switching element and said second switching element,
said voltage converter further comprises a voltage detector for detecting a voltage between said electric power line and said ground line,
said control device further comprises a reference value calculation unit configured to calculate a current range in which said first mode is executed, based on the voltage detected by said voltage detector, and
said selection unit causes said first mode to be executed when said current command value falls in said current range, and causes said second mode to be executed when said current command value falls out of said current range.
10. The vehicle according to claim 9, wherein
said voltage converter further comprises a current detector configured to detect a reactor current flowing through said reactor,
said control device further comprises:
a current control unit configured to perform feedback control based on a comparison between said current command value and said reactor current; and
a gain calculation unit configured to be capable of making a feedback gain variable of said current control unit in accordance with said current command value, and
when said first mode is executed, said gain calculation unit makes said feedback gain larger relative to when said second mode is executed.
11. The vehicle according to claim 9, wherein
said control device further comprises an intermittent drive control unit configured to reduce a drive number representing the number of times said first switching element and said second switching element are driven per unit time, in accordance with said current command value, when said first mode is executed.
12. The vehicle according to claim 9, wherein
said control device further comprises a load calculation unit configured to detect a load variation of said inverter, and
when said load variation falls out of a reference range, said selection unit causes said second mode to be executed regardless of said current command value.
13. A control method for a voltage converter capable of a voltage conversion between a power storage device and a load device,
said voltage converter comprising:
a first switching element and a second switching element connected in series between an electric power line for said load device and a ground line;
a first rectifying element and a second rectifying element connected in parallel with said first switching element and said second switching element, respectively, with a forward direction being defined as a direction from said ground line toward said electric power line; and
a reactor provided on a path connecting a connection node of said first switching element and said second switching element and a positive terminal of said power storage device, and
said control method comprising the steps of:
calculating a current command value of a current flowing through said reactor by performing feedback control of a voltage between said electric power line and said ground line;
selecting one of said first switching element and said second switching element in accordance with said current command value; and
generating a drive command for the switching element selected by said selecting step;
wherein
said second switching element is selected when said current command value represents a direction from said power storage device toward said load device, and said first switching element is selected when said current command value represents a direction from said load device toward said power storage device.