We have identified a mannosidase in rat liver that releases a1 + 2, a1 + 3 and a1 + 6 linked manose residues from oligosaccharide substrates, Man,GlcNAc where n = 4-9. The end product of the reaction is Manal + 3[Manal --f G]ManPl+ 4GlcNAc. The mannosidase has been purified to homogeneity from a rat liver microsomal fraction, after solubilization into the aqueous phase of Triton X-114, by anion-exchange, hydrophobic and hydroxyapatite chromatography followed by chromatofocusing. The purified enzyme is a dimer of a 110-kDa subunit, has a pH optimum between 6.1 and 6.5 and a K, of 65 pM and 110 pM for the Man,GlcNAcoligosaccharide or Man,GlcNAc-oligosaccharide substrates, respectively. Enzyme activity is inhibited by EDTA, by Zn2+ and Cu2+, and to lesser extent by Fez+ and is stabilized by Co2+. The pattern of release of mannose residues from a Man6GlcNAc substrate shows an ordered hydrolysis of the a1 + 2 linked residue followed by hydrolysis of a1 + 3 and a1 + 6 linked residues. The purified enzyme shows no activity against p-nitrophenyl-amannoside nor the hybrid GlcNAc Man,GlcNAc oligosaccharide. The enzyme activity is inhibited by swainsonine and 1-deoxymannojirimycin at concentrations 50 -500-fold higher than required for complete inhibition of Golgimannosidase I1 and mannosidase I, respectively. The data indicate strongly that the enzyme has novel activity and is distinct from previously described mannosidases.The major pathway of N-glycan biosynthesis involves removal of three glucose residues from the asparagine-linked Glc3Man9GlcNAc2 oligosaccharide, by glucosidases I and I1 [I] and up to four a1 + 2 linked mannose residues by distinct mannosidases of which several have been purified and well characterized [2 -151 such as endoplasmic reticular mannosidase and Golgi mannosidases IA/IB. The smallest oligomannose structure resulting from the concerted action of these enzymes is Man,GlcNAc2Asn, the preferred substrate for GlcNAc transferase I. The product of this reaction, GlcNAcMan,GlcnAc, Asn is then hydrolysed by Golgi mannosidase 11, releasing an a1 + 3 and an a1 + 6 linked mannose residue yielding a GlcNAcMan3GlcNAc2 intermediate which is modified further by subsequent addition of GlcNAc residues and branch elongation [I].Previously, we reported evidence for the presence in crude BHK cell extracts, of a mannosidase able to release a1 + 3 and a1 + 6 linked mannose from a Man5GlcNAc oligosaccharide leading to the formation of the tetrasaccharide Manal + 3[Manal + 6]Manp1 +4GlcNAc [16]. By various criteria, the activity was shown to be different from other a-mannosidases previously described. However, due to the fact that there is no information on purified a-mannosidases from BHK cells, the possibility could not be excluded that the Man,GlcNAc mannosidase was the BHK cell homologue of a well-characterised processing mannosidase, perhaps with a