Patent ID: 7279310

Claim:
A process for producing a sugar chain or complex carbohydrate comprising the steps of: a) selecting an enzyme source selected from the group consisting of (i) a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) a polypeptide comprising positions 39 to 378 of SEQ ID NO: 1, and (iii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having 95% or more of homology with the amino acid sequence in the polypeptide according to (i) or (ii), and has β1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase activity, b) an acceptor selected from i) lactosylceramide (Galβ1-4Glc-ceramide) or paragloboside (Galβ1-4GlcNAcβ1-3Galβ1-4Glc-ceramide), ii) galactose, N-acetyllactosamine (Galβ1-4GlcNAc), Galβ1-3GlcNAc or lactose (Galβ1-4Glc), iii) an oligosaccharide having galactose, N-acetyllactosamine (Galβ1-4GlcNAc), Galβ1-3GlcNAc or lactose structure in its non-reducing terminal, and iv) a complex carbohydrate having galactose, N-acetyllactosamine, Galβ1-3GlcNAc or lactose structure in its non-reducing terminal, and c) N-acetylglucosamine uridine 5′-diphosphate (UDP-GlcNAc) to be present in an aqueous medium to produce and accumulate a sugar chain or complex carbohydrate in which N-acetylglucosamine is added via β1,3-linkage to a galactose residue of the acceptor in the aqueous medium, and recovering the sugar chain or complex carbohydrate from the aqueous medium.