Transglycosylation activity of Mucor hiemalis endo-beta-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase which transfers complex oligosaccharides to the N-acetylglucosamine moieties of peptides.

A novel endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase in the culture fluid of Mucor hiemalis isolated from soil was found to have transglycosylation activity. This endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase, Endo-M, could liberate the complex type of asparagine-linked oligosaccharides by hydrolysis of diacetylchitobiose linkage from glycoproteins. The treatment of Endo-M with N-acetyl-glucosamine and asialotransferrin glycopeptide having the complex type of oligosaccharides resulted in the transfer of the released oligosaccharide from the glycopeptide to N-acetyl-glucosamine. The structure of the product after transfer was deduced to be (GlcNAc)2-Man-(Gal-GlcNAc-Man)2 by a combination method of pyridylamination and high performance liquid chromatography, and mass-spectrometry. The enzyme could transfer the complex type of oligosaccharide from asialotransferrin glycopeptide to bovine ribonuclease with the high-mannose type of oligosaccharide. This will lead to the construction of neoglycoproteins containing different types of oligosaccharides.