Patent ID: 7947481

Claim:
An isolated vector comprising DNA encoding a protein having catalytic activities (α) and (β) wherein said DNA is selected from the group consisting of: (a) DNA encoding a protein comprising the amino acid sequence from amino acid numbers 47 to 802 in SEQ ID NO: 2; and (b) DNA that, under stringent conditions comprising 50% formamide and 4×SSC at 42° C., hybridizes with the DNA complementary to the DNA of (a); wherein (α) catalytic activity comprises transferring GalNAc from UDP-GalNAc to chondroitin; (where UDP is uridine 5′diphosphate, and GalNAc is N-acetylgalactosamine residue), and (β) catalytic activity comprises transferring GlcUA from UDP-GlcUA to chondroitin,(where UDP is uridine 5′diphosphate and GlcUA is N-glucuronic acid residue); wherein said vector does not include the sequence encoding the amino-acid sequence from amino acid numbers 1 to 46 of SEQ ID NO: 2; and wherein said protein is soluble.