Patent ID: 7592152

Claim:
A method of analyzing a sample of polysaccharides, comprising: contacting the sample with a modified chondroitinase ABC I in an amount effective to degrade the polysaccharides, wherein the modified chondroitinase ABC I comprises the amino acid sequence of the native chondroitinase ABC I encoded by the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein at least one substrate specific residue has been substituted with a different amino acid than in the native chondroitinase ABC I, and wherein the nucleic acid that encodes the modified chondroitinase ABC I is at least 95% homologous to the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO:1, and wherein the amino acid sequence of the modified chondroitinase ABC I is not the amino acid sequence of any of SEQ ID NOs: 3-24, wherein the at least one substrate specific residue is the residue that corresponds to the residue at position 105, 221, 312, 388, 389, 392, 395, 500, 501, 508, 560 or 653 of the native chondroitinase ABC I of SEQ ID NO: 2.