Production of peracids using an enzyme having perhydrolysis activity

1. A process for producing a peroxycarboxylic acid comprising:

a) providing a set of reaction components, said components comprising:

A) at least one substrate selected from the group consisting of:

i) esters having the structure

[X] m R 5

wherein X=an ester group of the formula R 6 C(O)O;

R 6 =a C1 to C7 linear, branched or cyclic hydrocarbyl moiety, optionally substituted with hydroxyl groups or C1 to C4 alkoxy groups, wherein R 6 optionally comprises one or more ether linkages for R 6 = C2 to C7;

R 5 =a C1 to C6 linear, branched, or cyclic hydrocarbyl moiety optionally substituted with hydroxyl groups, wherein each carbon atom in R 5 individually comprises no more than one hydroxyl group or no more than one ester group; wherein R 5 optionally comprises one or more ether linkages;

m=1 to the number of carbon atoms in R 5 ; and

wherein said esters have a solubility in water of at least 5 ppm at 25° C.;

ii) glycerides having the structure

wherein R 1 ═C 1 to C 7 straight chain or branched chain alkyl; said C 1 to C 7 straight chain or branched chain alkyl being optionally substituted with an hydroxyl or a C1 to C4 alkoxy group and R 3 and R 4 are individually H or R 1 C(O); and

iii) acetylated saccharides selected from the group consisting of acetylated monosaccharides, acetylated disaccharides, and acetylated polysaccharides;

B) a source of peroxygen; and

C) an enzyme catalyst comprising an enzyme, wherein said enzyme has perhydrolase activity and comprises a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:106; and

b) combining said reaction components under suitable reaction conditions whereby a peroxycarboxylic acid is produced.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the enzyme having perhydrolase activity comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:106.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of: monoacetin; diacetin; triacetin; monopropionin; dipropionin; tripropionin; monobutyrin; dibutyrin; tributyrin; glucose pentaacetate; xylose tetraacetate; acetylated xylan; acetylated xylan fragments; β-D-ribofuranose-1,2,3,5-tetraacetate; tri-O-acetyl-D-galactal; tri-O-acetyl-glucal; monoesters or diesters of 1,2-ethanediol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,2-butanediol, 1,3-butanediol, 2,3-butanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,2-pentanediol, 2,5-pentanediol, 1,6-pentanediol, 1,2-hexanediol, 2,5-hexanediol, 1,6-hexanediol; and mixtures thereof.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein said enzyme is encoded by a nucleic acid molecule that hybridizes to the polynucleotide of SEQ ID NO: 101, SEQ ID NO: 104, or SEQ ID NO: 105 under the following conditions: 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65° C. and washed with 2×SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65° C., followed by second wash with 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65° C.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the peroxycarboxylic acid is produced at a concentration of at least 20 ppm within about 5 minutes to about 2 hours of combining the reaction components.

6. The process of claim 1 wherein the peroxycarboxylic acid produced is peracetic acid, perpropionic acid, perbutyric acid, perlactic acid, perglycolic acid, permethoxyacetic acid, per-β-hydroxybutyric acid, or mixtures thereof.

7. The process of claim 1 wherein the peroxycarboxylic acid produced is peracetic acid.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein the enzyme catalyst is in the form of a microbial cell, a permeabilized microbial cell, a microbial cell extract, a partially purified enzyme, or a purified enzyme.

9. The process of claim 1 wherein the enzyme catalyst lacks catalase activity.