identifier: traitmech:000157
label: beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase activity
definition: A physiological enzyme-activity phenotype in which a cell produces active
  beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase enzymes that hydrolyze terminal, non-reducing N-acetyl-D-hexosamine
  residues in N-acetyl-beta-D-hexosaminides.
definition_source: https://iubmb.qmul.ac.uk/enzyme/EC3/2/1/52.html
trait_category: PHYSIOLOGY
term_kind: CLASS
mapping_status: PROPOSED
parent_traits:
- METPO:1000059
synonyms:
- synonym_text: beta-N-acetyl-D-hexosaminide N-acetylhexosaminohydrolase activity
  synonym_type: EXACT_SYNONYM
  source: https://iubmb.qmul.ac.uk/enzyme/EC3/2/1/52.html
- synonym_text: N-acetylhexosaminidase
  synonym_type: RELATED_SYNONYM
  source: DOI:10.1021/jf020965x
- synonym_text: beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase
  synonym_type: RELATED_SYNONYM
  source: https://iubmb.qmul.ac.uk/enzyme/EC3/2/1/52.html
- synonym_text: N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase
  synonym_type: RELATED_SYNONYM
  source: TraitMech#453
evidence:
- reference: https://iubmb.qmul.ac.uk/enzyme/EC3/2/1/52.html
  snippet: 'Reaction: Hydrolysis of terminal non-reducing N-acetyl-D-hexosamine residues
    in N-acetyl-β-D-hexosaminides'
  notes: The NC-IUBMB EC 3.2.1.52 entry defines beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase by its
    accepted reaction, grounding the glycosidase activity named by the organism-level
    phenotype.
- reference: DOI:10.1021/jf020965x
  snippet: Serratia marcescens YS-1, a chitin-degrading microorganism, produced mainly
    N-acetylhexosaminidase
  notes: Kurakake et al. reported production of N-acetylhexosaminidase by Serratia
    marcescens YS-1, supporting this as a bacterial beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase activity
    phenotype.
canonical_examples:
- taxon_id: NCBITaxon:615
  taxon_label: Serratia marcescens
  note: Kurakake et al. reported Serratia marcescens YS-1 as mainly producing N-acetylhexosaminidase.
  reference: DOI:10.1021/jf020965x
discussions:
- discussion_id: beta-n-acetylhexosaminidase-activity-xref-gap
  prompt: Resolve an exact external ontology class for beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase
    activity before adding a TraitRecord xref.
  kind: CURATION_TODO
  status: OPEN
  rationale: GO:0004563 denotes beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase molecular function rather
    than the organism-level beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase production phenotype, so it
    is appropriate as a causal-node grounding rather than an equivalent TraitRecord
    xref.
  posed_by: codex
  posed_date: '2026-09-12'
curation_history:
- timestamp: '2026-09-12T04:12:07Z'
  curator: codex
  action: MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID
  changes: Minted beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase activity as a URL/DOI-backed TraitRecord
    after a repository-wide duplicate review covering ignored and hidden files; METPO
    has no exact beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase activity class yet.
  llm_assisted: true