We examined the mechanism of attachment of the marine bacterium Vibrio harveyi to chitin. Wheat germ agglutinin and chitinase bind to chitin and competitively inhibited the attachment of V. harveyi to chitin, but not to cellulose. Bovine serum albumin and cellulase do not bind to chitin and had no effect on bacterial attachment to chitin. These data suggest that this bacterium recognizes specif...

Entamoeba histolytica, which causes amebic dysentery and liver abscesses, is spread via chitin-walled cysts. The most abundant protein in the cyst wall of Entamoeba invadens, a model for amebic encystation, is a lectin called EiJacob1. EiJacob1 has five tandemly arrayed, six-Cys chitin-binding domains separated by low-complexity Ser- and Thr-rich spacers. E. histolytica also has numerous predic...

Bacillus licheniformis SK-1 naturally produces chitinase 72 (CHI72) with two truncation derivatives at the C-terminus, one with deletion of the chitin binding domain (ChBD), and the other with deletions of both fibronectin type III domain (FnIIID) and ChBD. We constructed deletions mutants of CHI72 with deletion of ChBD (CHI72ΔChBD) and deletions of both FnIIID and ChBD (CHI72ΔFnIIIDΔChBD), and...

Three chitinase isozymes, HoChiA, HoChiB, and HoChiC, were purified from the stomach of the greenling, Hexagrammos otakii, by ammonium sulfate fractionation, followed by column chromatography on Chitopearl Basic BL-03 and CM-Toyopearl 650S. The molecular masses and pIs of HoChiA, HoChiB, and HoChiC are 62 kDa and pH 5.7, 51 kDa and pH 7.6, and 47 kDa and pH 8.8, respectively. Substrate specific...

The glycosyl hydrolase 18 (GH18) family consists of active chitinases as well as chitinase like lectins/proteins (CLPs). The CLPs share significant sequence and structural similarities with active chitinases, however, do not display chitinase activity. Some of these proteins are reported to have specific functions and carbohydrate binding property. In the present study, we report a novel chitin...

An alkaliphilic actinomycete, Nocardiopsis prasina OPC-131, secretes chitinases, ChiA, ChiB, and ChiB Delta, in the presence of chitin. The genes encoding ChiA and ChiB were cloned and sequenced. The open reading frame (ORF) of chiA encoded a protein of 336 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 35,257 Da. ChiA consisted of only a catalytic domain and showed a significant homology with...

Cellulose, chitin and peptidoglycan are major long-chain carbohydrates in living organisms, and constitute a substantial fraction of the biomass. Characterization of the biochemical basis of dynamic changes and degradation of these β,1-4-linked carbohydrates is therefore important for both functional studies of biological polymers and biotechnology. Here, we investigated the functional role of ...

A bioinformatics investigation of four insect species with annotated genome sequences identified a family of genes encoding chitin deacetylase (CDA)-like proteins, with five to nine members depending on the species. CDAs (EC 3.5.1.41) are chitin-modifying enzymes that deacetylate the beta-1,4-linked N-acetylglucosamine homopolymer. Partial deacetylation forms a heteropolysaccharide that also co...

Chitin proteins are commonly found in bacteria that utilize chitin as a source of energy. CBP21 is a chitin-binding protein from Serratia marcescens, a Gram-negative soil bacterium capable of efficient chitin degradation. When grown on chitin, S. marcescens secretes large amounts of CBP21, along with chitin-degrading enzymes. In an attempt to understand the molecular mechanism of CBP21 action, ...