Recombinant microbial strains are provided that express nitrilase enzyme
and are useful as biocatalysts for the hydrolysis of nitrile-containing
substrates. The recombinant cells are transformed with a foreign gene
isolated from Acidovorax facilis 72W encoding a thermostable nitrilase
enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of nitrile-containing substrates to
carboxylic acids under mild reaction conditions. The nucleotide sequence
of the nitrilase gene and the deduced amino acid sequence encoded by the
nitrilase gene are provided.