Anaerobic fungi were isolated from both the rumen and faeces of nine sheep and a cow. A reliable and simple method for the isolation of anaerobic fungi using 24 h rumen incubated milled straw as the inoculum source was developed. We also evaluate the use of chitin measurements as an assay of rumen fungal biomass. Chitin levels were determined from various sample sources (milled barley straw use...

This issue's Immunology Select discusses recent studies on allergic responses in mouse models of human disease as well as how certain drugs, like the glucocorticoid dexamethasone, alleviate the symptoms of allergy. There are many similarities between the immune responses to allergens and to parasitic worms. In their new study, Reese et al. (2007) examined immune responses in the lung tissue of ...

The chitin portion of the peritrophic matrix in the midgut of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, is produced by chitin synthase 2 (CHS2), a transmembrane family II glycosyltransferase, located at the apical tips of brush border microvilli. To look for proteins that potentially interact with CHS2, we performed yeast two-hybrid screening, identifying a novel chymotrypsin-like protease (CTLP1) t...

In order to try to improve the results of direct smear microscopy, we used the mucus-digesting quality of chitin in tuberculosis (TB) laboratories. For this purpose, a total of 430 sputum specimens were processed by the N-acetyl-L-cysteine concentration, sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) liquefaction, chitin sedimentation, and direct microscopy methods. Then, the smear sensitivity for acid-fast bacil...

BACKGROUND Chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide on earth and as such a great target for bioconversion applications. The phylum Bacteroidetes is one of nature's most ubiquitous bacterial lineages and is essential in the global carbon cycle with many members being highly efficient degraders of complex carbohydrates. However, despite their specialist reputation in carbohydrate convers...

PURPOSE Chitin is a potent adjuvant in the development of immune response to inhaled allergens in the airways. According to other studies, chitin is known as multi-faced adjuvants which can induce Th2 responses. Recently, we found that TNF-α is a key mediator in the development of Th2 cell response to inhaled allergens. Here, we evaluated the immunologic mechanisms in the development of airway ...

The ultrastructural localization of chitin in the cyst walls of Euplotes muscicola was carried out after deproteinization and by specific labelling with WGA-gold complex. The overall ectocyst contains chitin that alone can sustain the exact profile of this cystic layer. In the endocyst, electron clear sublayers include chitin and alternate with other sublayers probably of proteic nature.

Chitin production of mycelia from Mucor circinelloides (Mucor javanicus) was studied with a two-level factorial design in all combinations of the following factors in the culture medium: time of cultivation, concentration of D-glucose, L-asparagine and thiamine. Chitin was characterised by infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The four factors showed statistically significant (9...