Advances in understanding insect chitin biosynthesis.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol
; 164: 104058, 2024 Jan.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38072083
ABSTRACT
Chitin, a natural polymer of N-acetylglucosamine chains, is a principal component of the apical extracellular matrix in arthropods. Chitin microfibrils serve as structural components of natural biocomposites present in the extracellular matrix of a variety of invertebrates including sponges, molluscs, nematodes, fungi and arthropods. In this review, we summarize the frontier advances of insect chitin synthesis. More specifically, we focus on the chitin synthase (CHS), which catalyzes the key biosynthesis step. CHS is also known as an attractive insecticidal target in that this enzyme is absent in mammals, birds or plants. As no insect chitin synthase structure have been reported so far, we review recent studies on glycosyltransferase domain structures derived from fungi and oomycetes, which are conserved in CHS from all species containing chitin. Auxiliary proteins, which coordinate with CHS in chitin biosynthesis and assembly, are also discussed.
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Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Artrópodes
/
Quitina Sintase
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article