The present invention relates to a novel enzyme (&agr;-GARE) which releases an amino acid residue having a glycated &agr;-amino group (&agr;-GA) from a glycated protein etc. and to bacterial strains producing the same. Examples of the bacterial strains include Corynebacterium ureolyticum KDK1002 (FERM P-17135) and Pseudomonas alcaligenes KDK1001 (FERM P-17133). The &agr;-GARE is contained in the culture supernatant of these strains and &agr;-GA can be released from a glycated peptide by using the same, as shown in FIG. 1.