Patent ID: 7141409

Claim:
A recombinant host cell comprising at least one expression construct comprising a hyaluronan synthase gene, wherein the hyaluronan synthase gene encodes an enzymatically active hyaluronan synthase, wherein the enzymatically active hyaluronan synthase includes at least two amino acid motifs selected from the group consisting of: (i) GKR(E/H)(V/C/A)(M/L/Q)(Y/A)(T/W)(A/G)F(X) 3-7 (A/S/D)(W/V/A)(DIN)(V/A/Y)(F/V/I)(L/Q/V)(T/V/L)(V/C/I) DSDTX(L/I)(D/E/Y)(P/E/K)X(A/S/C)XXE (SEQ ID NO:11); (ii) (L/M)(S/T/V)(D/S/A)XRY(W/Y/D)XAF(G/N/C) (V/I)ER(A/S)(C/A)QSX(F/T)X(N/C/T)(V/I)(L/Q/S)(C/V) (I/V/C)(S/G)GPL(G/S)XY(K/R) (SEQ ID NO:12); (iii) (D/E)X(W/Y)(X) 2 QXF(L/M)G(X) 2 (C/V)(S/T) XGDDR(H/R/C)LTN (SEQ ID NO:13); and (iv) (E/D)(T/S/V)P(X) 5 (W/Y/F)(L/I)XQQ(T/N) RW(S/T/N)KS(Y/W/F)(F/C)RE (SEQ ID NO:14), with X being selected from the group consisting of any amino acid; and wherein the at least two amino acid motifs are found in the relative order of (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) from an amino terminus to a carboxyl terminus of the recombinantly produced, enzymatically active hyaluronan synthase.