Hyaluronate lyases are a class of endoglycosaminidase enzymes with a high level of complexity and heterogeneity. The main function of the Streptococ-cus pyogenesbacteriophage protein hyaluronate lyase, HylP2, is to degrade hyaluronan into unsaturated disaccharide units. HylP2 was cloned, over-expressed and purified to homogeneity.