NOVEL N-ACETYLGLUCOSAMINE-2-EPIMERASE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING CMP-NEURAMINIC ACID USING THE SAME

摘要

A novel N-acetylglucosamine-2-epimerase is provided to produce a large quantity of CMP(cytidine monophosphate)-N-acetylneuraminic acid economically through one reaction by using inexpensive substrates of cytidine monophosphate and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. A novel N-acetylglucosamine-2-epimerase has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2. A gene encoding the N-acetylglucosamine-2-epimerase has the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1. The N-acetyl-D-mannosamine is produced by reacting the reaction mixture containing N-acetyl-D-glucosamine in the presence of N-acetylglucosamine-2-epimerase. The neuraminic acid is produced by reacting the reaction mixture containing N-acetyl-D-mannosamine in the presence of N-acetylneuraminic acid aldolase. The CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid is produced by reacting a reaction mixture containing cytidine 5' monophosphate(CMP), nucleotide tri-phosphate(NTP) or ATP, acetyl phosphate(acetyl Pi), N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and pyruvic acid in the presence of N-acetylglucosamine-2-epimerase(GlcNAc 2-epimerase), N-acetylneuraminic acid aldolase(NeuNAc aldolase), acetate kinase and CMP-N- acetylneuraminic acid synthetase.