Noda Institute for Scientific Research

Toshiko Kurokawa

Tatsuo Horiuchi

N-Acetylhexosamine-dehydrogenase which takes off hydrogen from N-acetylglucosamine or N-acetylgalactosamine to convert them to N-acetylglucosaminolactone or N-acetylgalactosaminolactone, respectively, and, at the same time, reduces co-enzymes NAD.sup.+ to NADH is provided herein. The enzyme of this invention can be obtained by culturing, in a medium, a strain belonging to Genus Pseudomonas and having an ability to produce N-acetylhexosamine-dehydrogenase, followed by collecting the enzyme from the cultured product. Herein is also provided a method for quantitatively analyzing N-acetylglucosamine or N-acetylgalactosamine which comprises reacting N-acetylglucosamine-dehydrogenase upon a sample containing N-acetylglucosamine or N-acetylgalactosamine and measuring the quantity of the resulting NADH.

N-acetylhexosamine-dehydrogenase, process for producing same, method for

N-Acetylmannosamine dehydrogenase which takes off hydrogen from N-acetylmannosamine to convert it into N-acetylmannosaminolactone and, at the same time, reduces coenzyme NAD into NADH. This enzyme can be obtained by culturing, in a medium, a strain belonging to Genus Flavobacterium and having an ability to produce N-acetylmannosamine dehydrogenase producing activity, and then collecting it. This enzyme is usable in the quantitative analysis of N-acetylmannosamine or sialic acid.

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Noda, Japan

Toshiko Kurokawa