Shingolipid ceramide deacylase gene

A nucleic acid selected from the group consisting of the following (A) to (H):

• (A) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 20 or a part thereof;
• (B) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide of which amino acid sequence has deletion, addition, insertion or substitution of at least one amino acid residue in the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 20;
• (C) a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having at least 25% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 20;
• (D) a nucleic acid having the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 19 or a part thereof;
• (E) a nucleic acid having a nucleotide sequence having deletion, addition, insertion or substitution of at least one base in the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 19;
• (F) a nucleic acid capable of hybridizing under stringent conditions to the nucleic acid of any one of the above (A) to (E) or a complementary strand thereof;
• (G) a nucleic acid having a nucleotide sequence different from the nucleic acid of any one of the above (A) to (F) via degeneracy;
• and
• (H) a nucleic acid having a nucleotide sequence having at least 17% sequence identity to a nucleotide sequence of the nucleic acid of any one of the above (A) to (G),
• wherein the nucleic acid encodes a polypeptide possessing a sphingolipid ceramide deacylase activity.