Chitin the second most abundant after cellulose biopolymer found in nature after, is produced by many living organisms, and is present usually in a complex with other polysaccharides and proteins. Chitin was found as a major component in arthropods (insects, crustaceans, arachnids and myriapods), nematodes, algae and fungi. In this study Chitin was isolated from various species (crab, squilla, ...

The Gram-negative soil bacterium Serratia marcescens uses three different family 18 chitinases to degrade chitin, an abundant insoluble carbohydrate polymer composed of beta(1,4)-linked units of N-acetylglucosamine. We show that efficient chitin degradation additionally depends on the action of a small non-catalytic protein, CBP21, which binds to the insoluble crystalline substrate, leading to ...

Chitin deacetylase, the enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of acetamido groups of N-acetylglucosamine in chitin, has been purified to homogeneity from mycelial extracts of the fungus Mucor rouxii and further characterized. The enzyme exhibits a low pI (approximately 3). Its apparent molecular mass was determined to be approximately 75 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electroph...

Colletotrichum graminicola (teleomorph, Glomerella graminicola) mutant T30 has a disruption in chsA, which is a class V or a class VI chitin synthase (class VI if recognized). The mutant conidia were significantly easier to fracture with glass beads than conidia of the wild type and two T30-derived strains that were complemented with chsA. Similarly, after extraction in alkali, the walls of sig...

Incomplete killing was observed for caspofungin against Candida glabrata, which was associated with increased SLT2 expression and elevated chitin content. In contrast, fungicidal activity and no chitin increase were observed in an isogenic Delta slt2 strain, suggesting a role for SLT2 and chitin production in the response of C. glabrata to caspofungin.

Chitin in the cyst wall of Entamoeba histolytica is made by two chitin synthases (Chs), one of which is unique (EhCHS-1) and one of which resembles those of insects and nematodes (EhCHS-2). EhCHS-1 is deposited chitin in the lateral wall of transformed Saccharomyces cerevisiae Chs mutants, independent of accessory proteins (Chs4p to Chs7p) required by yeast Chs3p.

This study examined the effects of sub- and supercritical water pretreatments on the physicochemical properties of crab shell α-chitin and its enzymatic degradation to obtain N,N'-diacetylchitobiose (GlcNAc)2. Following sub- and supercritical water pretreatments, the protein in the crab shell was removed and the residue of crab shell contained α-chitin and CaCO3. Prolonged pretreatment led to α...

Department of Microbiology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Incubation of Aspergillus fumigatus NCPF 2140 in growth medium containing 1 O/ O chitin as sole carbon source led to induction of specific extracellular chitinolytic activity of 1-5 pmol GlcNAc released min'l (mg protein)'l. The effect was repressed by the inclusion of GlcNAc in the medium, indicating regulation by a negative fe...

Peritrophic membrane proteins are important components of the insect peritrophic membrane. A novel cDNA gene encoding a chitin-binding protein, named secbp66, was identified by immunization screening of the cDNA library of Spodoptera exigua. The full length of secbp66 is 1806 bp, which encodes 602 amino acids. The predicted weight of the protein is 64.2 kDa. Bioinformatic analysis showed that a...

Chitin is the second most plenteous polysaccharide in nature after cellulose, present in cell walls of several fungi, exoskeletons of insects, and crustacean shells. Chitin does not accumulate in the environment due to presence of bacterial chitinases, despite its abundance. These enzymes are able to degrade chitin present in the cell walls of fungi as well as the exoskeletons of insect. They h...