Taxonomic group: fungi / Ascomycota
(Phylum: Ascomycota)
Organ / tissue: cell wallAssociated disease: infection due to Aspergillus fumigatus [ICD11:
XN5Z7 
]
NCBI PubMed ID: 21700357Publication DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcb.2011.04.014Journal NLM ID: 7906240Correspondence: Merzendorfer H <merzendorfer
biologie.uni-osnabrueck.de>
Institutions: Faculty of Biology and Chemistry, Department of Animal Physiology, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
Chitin is a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, which assembles into microfibrils of about 20 sugar chains. These microfibrils serve as a structural component of natural biocomposites found in cell walls and specialized extracellular matrices such as cuticles and peritrophic membranes. Chitin synthesis is performed by a wide range of organisms including fungi and insects. The underlying biosynthetic machinery is highly conserved and involves several enzymes, of which the chitin synthase is the key enzyme. This membrane integral glycosyltransferase catalyzes the polymerization reaction. Most of what we know about chitin synthesis derives from studies of fungal and insect systems. In this review, common principles and differences will be worked out at the levels of gene organization, enzymatic properties, cellular localization and regulation.
cell wall, glycosyltransferase, chitin, chitin synthase, Chitin metabolism, Cuticle, Peritrophic matrix
Structure type: homopolymer
Location inside paper: p. 759, column 2, line 1
Trivial name: chitin
Contained glycoepitopes: IEDB_141807,IEDB_151531
Comments, role: review
NCBI Taxonomy refs (TaxIDs): 746128,
162425,
5476,
4932Reference(s) to other database(s): GTC:G30289PP
Show glycosyltransferases
There is only one chemically distinct structure:
Found 
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