Entomopathogenic fungi can produce a series of chitinases, some of which function synergistically with proteases and other hydrolytic enzymes to degrade the insect cuticle. In the present study, the chitinase gene Ifu-chit2 from Isaria fumosorosea was investigated. The Ifu-chit2 gene is 1,435-bp long, interrupted by three short introns, and encodes a predicted protein of 423 amino acids with a ...

Spherules of Coccidioides immitis strain Silveira produced in vitro were treated with chitinase and lysozyme. The walls of merthiolate-killed mature endosporulating spherules were degraded by chitinase (500 mug/ml) and by lysozyme (100 and 500 mug/ml). Thus, as was visible through the light microscope, the spherule wall was reduced in thickness from 1 to 2 mum to less than 0.5 mum. The degradat...

A sediment core spanning approximately 1,600 years was collected from a lake on Ardley Island, Antarctica. The sediment core had been greatly influenced by penguin guano. Using molecular methods, the chitinolytic bacterial community along the sediment core was studied over its entire length. Primers targeting conserved sequences of the catalytic domains of family 18 subgroup A chitinases detect...

A new method of screening for chitinase inhibitors in crude fermentation broths as a means of discovering new insecticidal leads has been developed. In this procedure soluble Remazol brilliant violet 5R dye-coupled chitin degradation products released from insoluble chitin azure substrate by hydrolysis with Streptomyces griseus chitinase are filtered in 0.45 micron Millititer HA 96 well filtrat...

Protoplasts were isolated from Trichoderma harzianum strain PTh18 using lysing enzymes and self-fusion of T. harzianum protoplasts was carried out using polyethylene glycol in STC buffer. The fused protoplasts of T. harzianum were regenerated and 15 self-fusants were selected to study the chitinase production and biocontrol activity. High chitinase activity was measured in the culture filtrates...

Serratia marcescens, a chitinase-producing microorganism, was shown to produce five unique chitinolytic proteins with subunit molecular masses of 21, 36, 48, 52, and 57 kilodaltons. A cosmid library of S. marcescens DNA was constructed in the broad-host-range cosmid pLAFR1 and screened in Escherichia coli for clones capable of degrading chitin. A total of four independent clones (22- to 27-kilo...

Chitinase is necessary for fungal growth and cell division and, therefore, is an ideal target for the design of inhibitors which may act as antifungal agents. A chitinase from the fungal pathogen Coccidioides immitis has been expressed as a fusion protein with gluathione-S-transferase (GST), which aids in purification. After cleavage from GST, chitinase was crystallized from 30% PEG 4000 in 0. ...

Effects of induced mutation via gamma irradiated with 250 Gy dose (in Nuclear Agriculture Research School- Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute) on Trichoderma harzianum conidiaon chitinase activity by STS molecular marker have been evaluated in this study. Among 20 irradiated mutants which selected via improved antagonistic capability against Rhizoctonia sola...