Abstract
Microbial endoglycosidases are useful for elucidating the structure and function of the oligosac-charide chains of glycoconjugates. We found many types of endoglycosidases in culture broths of various microorganisms isolated from soil. Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase was found in the culture broth of Flavobacterium sp. The enzyme could liberate the asparagine-linked oligosaccharides of various glycoproteins. Novel endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase was also found in the culture broth of Mucor hiemalis. Unlike most microbial enzymes, it could act on complex type oligosaccharide chains that exist in most glycoproteins of animal tissues. Endo-α-N-acetylgalactosaminidase which releases the O-glycosidic oligosaccharide from various glycoproteins was found in the culture broth of Alcalig-enes sp. Endoglycoceramidase was found from Corynebacterium sp. as a membrane-bound enzyme. It could liberate oligosaccharide from various glycosphingolipids. This paper describes the applications of these microbial endoglycosidases to glycobiology.
