Method for producing ultra-heat treatment milk

1. A method of producing ultra-heat treatment (UHT) milk comprising: mixing a lipid acyltransferase with milk, or a milk fraction, and heating mixture with an ultra-heat treatment to thereby produce UHT milk,

wherein the lipid acyltransferase has at least 5% transferase activity when calculated with an assay for transferase activity,

wherein the assay comprises measuring a molar amount of cholesterol ester formed by acyltransfer from phospholipids or triacylglycerides in milk to cholesterol relative to the amount of cholesterol originally available with a formula:

Transferase activity=(Mol/l cholesterol ester( t )−Mol/l cholesterol ester(0))×100 Mol/l cholesterol(0); and

wherein cholesterol ester(t)=the amount of cholesterol ester to the time t,

Cholesterol ester(0)=the amount of cholesterol ester to the time 0,

Cholesterol (0)=the amount of cholesterol in milk to the time 0 and

Cholesterol and cholesterol ester are determined by gas liquid chromatography (GLC).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is added prior to ultra-heat treatment or after ultra-heat treatment.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture is incubated at a temperature of less than about 20° C.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture is incubated at a temperature of between about 1° C. and about 10° C.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase comprises the amino acid sequence motif GDSX (SEQ ID NO: 120) and/or GANDY (SEQ ID NO: 118).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase possesses acyltransferase activity and comprises the amino acid sequence motif GDSX (SEQ ID NO: 117), wherein X is one or more of the following amino acid residues L, A, V, I, F, Y, H, Q, T, N, M or S.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is from an organism in a genera selected from the group consisting of: Aeromonas, Streptomyces, Saccharomyces, Lactococcus, Mycobacterium, Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, Desulfitobacterium, Bacillus, Campylobacter, Vibrionaceae, Xylella, Sulfolobus, Aspergillus, Schizosaccharomyces, Listeria, Neisseria, Mesorhizobium, Ralstonia, Xanthomonas and Candida.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is from an organism from the genus Aeromonas.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is a polypeptide having lipid acyltransferase activity and is produced by expressing a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: SEQ ID NO: 36, SEQ ID NO: 39, SEQ ID NO: 42, SEQ ID NO: 44, SEQ ID NO: 46, SEQ ID NO: 48, SEQ ID NO: 49, SEQ ID NO: 50, SEQ ID NO: 51, SEQ ID NO: 52, SEQ ID NO: 53, SEQ ID NO: 54, SEQ ID NO: 55, SEQ ID NO: 56, SEQ ID NO: 57, SEQ ID NO: 58, SEQ ID NO: 59, SEQ ID NO: 60, SEQ ID NO: 61, SEQ ID NO: 62 and SEQ ID NO: 63.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is a polypeptide having lipid acyltransferase activity and is produced by expressing a nucleotide sequence having 90% or more identity with a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: SEQ ID NO: 36, SEQ ID NO: 39, SEQ ID NO: 42, SEQ ID NO: 44, SEQ ID NO: 46, SEQ ID NO: 48, SEQ ID NO: 49, SEQ ID NO: 50, SEQ ID NO: 51, SEQ ID NO: 52, SEQ ID NO: 53, SEQ ID NO: 54, SEQ ID NO: 55, SEQ ID NO: 56, SEQ ID NO: 57, SEQ ID NO: 58, SEQ ID NO: 59, SEQ ID NO: 60, SEQ ID NO: 61, SEQ ID NO: 62 and SEQ ID NO: 63.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is a polypeptide having lipid acyltransferase activity and is produced by expressing:

SEQ ID NO: 49 or a nucleotide sequence having 90% or more identity therewith;

a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having at least 90% identity with SEQ ID NO: 16 or with SEQ ID NO: 68, or

a nucleic acid which hybridises under high stringency conditions (65° C. and 0.1.times.SSC {1×SSC=0.15 M NaCl, 0.015 M Na-citrate pH 7.0}) to a probe comprising SEQ ID NO: 49.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is a polypeptide having lipid acyltransferase activity and comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of: SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO: 11, SEQ ID NO: 12, SEQ ID NO: 13, SEQ ID NO: 14, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 17, SEQ ID NO: 16, SEQ ID NO: 17, SEQ ID NO: 18, SEQ ID NO: 34, SEQ ID NO: 35 and SEQ ID NO: 68.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is a polypeptide having lipid acyltransferase activity and comprises an amino acid sequence having 90% or more identity with an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of: SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO: 11, SEQ ID NO: 12, SEQ ID NO: 13, SEQ ID NO: 14, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 17, SEQ ID NO: 16, SEQ ID NO: 17, SEQ ID NO: 18, SEQ ID NO: 34, SEQ ID NO: 35 and SEQ ID NO: 68.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is a polypeptide having lipid acyltransferase activity and comprises SEQ ID NO: 68.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipid acyltransferase is a polypeptide having lipid acyltransferase activity and comprises an amino acid sequence having 90% or more identity with SEQ ID NO: 68.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the polypeptide is expressed in Bacillus licheniformis.

17. The method of claim 3 , wherein the mixture is incubated at a temperature of less than about 10° C.

18. The method of claim 4 , wherein the mixture is incubated at a between about 3° C. and about 7° C.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the mixture is incubated at about 5° C.