Patent ID: 7005279

Claim:
A process for producing a sugar chain or complex carbohydrate, which comprises: (A) selecting, as an enzyme source, a sugar chain synthesizing agent which comprises, as an active ingredient, a polypeptide consisting of (a) an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:2, (b) an amino acid sequence of positions 45–372 in the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:2, or (c) an amino acid sequence having 95% or more homology with the amino acid sequence in the above (a) or (b) and having β1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase activity; (B) allowing, (1) the enzyme source, (2) an acceptor substrate selected from i) N-acetyllactosamine (Galβ1-4GlcNAc), Galβ1-3GlcNAc or lactose (Galβ1-4Glc), ii) an oligosaccharide having an N-acetyllactosamine, Galβ1-3GlcNAc or lactose structure at the non-reducing end, and iii) a complex carbohydrate having an N-acetyllactosamine, Galβ1-3GlcNAc or lactose structure at the non-reducing terminal, and (3) uridine-5′-diphosphate N-acetylglucosamine to be present in an aqueous medium to produce and accumulate a sugar chain or complex carbohydrate in which N-acetylglucosamine is added to a galactose residue of the acceptor substrate via a β1-3-linkage; and (C) recovering the sugar chain or complex carbohydrate from the aqueous medium.