Sphingolpid ceramide N-deacylase, methods for producing sphingolipids and sphingolipid derivatives, and sphingolipid ceramide N-deacylase gene

A method for producing a lysosphingolipid derivative which comprises:

• subjecting a sphingolipid to a contact reaction with a microorganism capable of producing a sphingolipid ceramide N-deacylase to obtain a reaction mixture;
• recovering a lysosphingolipid from the reaction mixture;
• and
• subjecting the lysosphingolipid to a substitution reaction.

A method for producing a sphingolipid or a sphingolipid derivative, which comprises the step selected from the following (1) to (3):

• (1) enzymatically reacting a sphingolipid with an aliphatic carboxylic acid having or free of a marker using an enzyme which can specifically hydrolyze an acid-amide bond between a sphingoid and a fatty acid in a sphingolipid to obtain another sphingolipid or sphingolipid derivative having a different fatty acid chain;
• (2) enzymatically reacting a lysosphingolipid with an aliphatic carboxylic acid having or free of a marker using an enzyme which can specifically hydrolyze an acid-amide bond between a sphingoid and a fatty acid in a sphingolipid to obtain a sphingolipid or sphingolipid derivative;
• and
• (3) enzymatically reacting at least two sphingolipids using an enzyme which can specifically hydrolyze an acid-amide bond between a sphingoid and a fatty acid in a sphingolipid to obtain other sphingolipid or sphingolipid derivative having an exchanged fatty acid chain.