Alcohol-aldehyd-dehydrogenases

The present invention is directed to a recombinant enzyme preparation having an alcohol and/or aldehyde dehydrogenase activity which comprises one or more enzymatic polypeptide(s) selected from the group consisting of polypeptides which are identified by SEQ ID NO 5, SEQ ID NO 6, SEQ ID NO 7 and SEQ ID NO 8 and chimeric recombinant enzymes between the polypeptides identified by SEQ ID NO 5, SEQ ID NO 6, SEQ ID NO 7 and SEQ ID NO 8 and functional derivatives of the polypeptides identified above which contain addition, insertion, deletion and/or substitution of one or more amino acid residue(s), wherein said enzymatic polypeptides have said alcohol and/or aldehyde dehydrogenase activity, DNA molecules encoding such polypeptides, vectors comprising such DNA molecules, host cells transformed by such vectors and processes for the production of such recombinant enzyme preparations, aldehyds, ketones or carboxylic acids by using such enzyme preparations and specifically 2-keto-L-gulonic acid and more specifically L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C).