Chitotriosidase (ChT), a protein produced by activated macrophages, belongs to the chitinases, a group of enzymes able to hydrolyze chitin, a structural component of fungi and nematodes. A codominant inherited deficiency in ChT activity is frequently reported in plasma of Caucasian subjects, whereas in the African population this deficiency is rare. This study compares ChT activity in colostrum...

The metastable CH2I-I and CHI2-I isomers formed by UV photolysis of CH2I2 and CHI3 transfer methylene and iodomethylene groups, respectively, to a variety of cycloalkenes, leading to their cyclopropanation. More than a 100-fold increase of the reaction rate with increasing solvent polarity suggests a dipolar transition state. The fastest second-order rates observed were in CH3CN. However, CH2Cl...

Human chitotriosidase (HCHT) is a family 18 chitinase that is an innate part of the immune system. We have mapped preferred productive binding modes of chito-oligosaccharide substrates to HCHT and the data show that HCHT has strong binding affinity in the +3 subsite. Moreover, HCHT shows anomer-specific binding affinities in subsites +2 and +3. These features could endorse HCHT with higher endo...

Increased plasma and/or urine chitotriosidase activity was found in neonates with fungal infection changing in parallel with their clinical condition. Increased levels were also found in neonates with bacterial infection. Chitotriosidase activity increase is not a response specific to fungi, but serial assays could monitor the course of neonatal fungal infection.

BACKGROUND Chitotriosidase is a functional chitinase secreted by activated macrophages, which is extremely increased in plasma of patients with Gaucher disease (beta-glucocerebrosidase deficiency). Recently, we found that chitotriosidase plasma levels were increased to a variable extent in Sicilian patients with beta-thalassemia major. The aim of this study is to elucidate the possible mechanis...

This work analyses the chitin-binding and catalytic domains of the human macrophage chitotriosidase and investigates the physiological role of this glycoside hydrolase in a complex mechanism such as the innate immune system, especially its antifungal activity. Accordingly, we first analyzed the ability of its chitin-binding domain to interact with chitin embedded in fungal cell walls using the ...

In this paper, we describe the structure of chitinase B from Serratia marcescens, which consists of a catalytic domain with a TIM-barrel fold and a 49-residue C-terminal chitin-binding domain. This chitinase is the first structure of a bacterial exochitinase, and it represents one of only a few examples of a glycosyl hydrolase structure having interacting catalytic and substrate-binding domains...