Biochemistry of chitin synthase

This article compiles the papers dealing with the biochemistry of chitin synthase (CS) published during the last decade, provides up-to-date information on the state of knowledge and understanding of chitin synthesis in vitro, and points out some firmly entrenched ideas and tenets of CS biochemistry...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEXS (Basel) Vol. 87; p. 9
Main Authors Merz, R A, Horsch, M, Nyhlén, L E, Rast, D M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland 1999
Subjects
Animals
Biotechnology
Carbohydrate Sequence
Chitin - biosynthesis
Chitin - chemistry
Chitin Synthase - chemistry
Chitin Synthase - metabolism
Humans
Molecular Sequence Data
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Summary:This article compiles the papers dealing with the biochemistry of chitin synthase (CS) published during the last decade, provides up-to-date information on the state of knowledge and understanding of chitin synthesis in vitro, and points out some firmly entrenched ideas and tenets of CS biochemistry that have become of age without hardly ever having been critically re-evaluated. The subject is dealt with under the headings "Components of the CS reaction" (educt, cation requirement and intermediates; product), "Regulation of CS" (cooperativity and allostery; non-allosteric activation or priming of CS; latency), "Concerted action of CS and enzymes of chitinolysis", "Inhibition of CS", "Multiplicity of CSs", and "Structure of CS" (the putative UDPGlcNAc-binding domain of CS; identification of CS polypeptides; glycoconjugation). The prospects are outlined of obtaining a refined three-dimensional (3D) model of the catalytic site of CS for biotechnological applications.
ISSN:1023-294X
DOI:10.1007/978-3-0348-8757-1_2