High efficiency of transferring a native sugar chain from a glycopeptide by a microbial endoglycosidase in organic solvents

We examined the transglycosylation reaction by the recombinant endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase from Mucor hiemalis (Endo-M) expressed in Candida boidinii in media containing organic solvents. The recombinant Endo-M could transglycosylate a disialo biantennary complex-type oligosaccharide from hen egg yolk glycopeptide to p-nitrophenyl N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminide even in the presence of 30% acetone, dimethyl sulfoxide, or methanol. The yield of the transglycosylation product reached 21–34% of the total amount of acceptor, while the yield was only about 14% in aqueous solution.