N-Acetylgalactosaminidase Alpha (NAGa)

Alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (EC 3.2.1.49) is a lysosomal glycohydrolase that cleaves alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminyl moieties from glycoconjugates.

The cDNA encodes a 411-amino acid protein with a 17-residue signal peptide and 6 putative N-glycosylation sites. Northern blot analysis detected 2 mRNA transcripts of 3.6 and 2.2 kb. Sequence analysis revealed striking similarities between the NAGA gene and exons 1-6 of the alpha-galactosidase A gene (GLA), suggesting that the 2 genes evolved by duplication and divergence from a common ancestral locus. Wang and Desnick (1991) also pointed to remarkable amino acid identity between the NAGA and GLA genes.