N-Acetylneuraminic Acid Synthase (NANS)

SAS; Sialic Acid Synthase; N-acetylneuraminate-9-phosphate synthase; N-acetylneuraminic acid phosphate synthase

SPN	P168
HGNC	19237
MGI	2149820
RGD	1311943
UniProt	Q9NR45

Sialic acid synthase is an enzyme that functions in the biosynthetic pathways of sialic acids. In vitro, the encoded protein uses N-acetylmannosamine 6-phosphate and mannose 6-phosphate as substrates to generate phosphorylated forms of N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) and 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-glycero-D-galacto-nononic acid (KDN), respectively; however, it exhibits much higher activity toward the Neu5Ac phosphate product. In insect cells, expression of this gene results in Neu5Ac and KDN production.

This gene is related to the E. coli sialic acid synthase gene neuB, and it can partially restore sialic acid synthase activity in an E. coli neuB-negative mutant.

Reference

"Cloning and expression of the human N-acetylneuraminic acid phosphate synthase gene with 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-glycero-D-galacto-nononic acid biosynthetic ability."
J. Biol. Chem. 275:17869-17877(2000) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Complete sequencing and characterization of 21,243 full-length human cDNAs."
Nat. Genet. 36:40-45(2004) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 9."
Nature 429:369-374(2004) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC)."
Genome Res. 14:2121-2127(2004) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]