Chitin enzymic degradation

Enzyme-Degradable Hydrogel. Because lysozyme is a well characterized enzyme, our first choice was a lysozyme-degradable hydrogel (11, 12). The natural substrate for lysozyme is chitin (13). but because chitin is a rigid, hydrophobic material, it is clearly not suitable for this work. The other natural substrates for lysozyme are certain bacterial cell-wall peptidoglycans (13. 

As a result of the various acidic and enzymic degradative studies on chitin, there can be little doubt that the polysaccharide is a homogeneous polymer composed of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose residues. Moreover, the specificity of chitinases as 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-/3-D-glucosidases confirms the /3-d nature of the glycosidic linkages. 

Hackman, R. H. Studies on chitin. I. Enzymic degradation of chitin and chitin esters. AustJ BiolSci 1954,7(2), 168-178. 

IV. PARASITISM. Lysis by hydrolytic enzymes excreted by microorganisms is a well-known feature of mycoparasitism. Chitinase and P-l,3 glucanase (laminarase) are particularly important enzymes secreted by fungal mycoparasites capable of degrading the fungal cell wall components, chitin, and P-1,3 glucan (131-134). 

Glycoside hydrolases (glycosidases) are essential and consequently widely abundant enzymes in all living systems that rely on the processing of carbohydrates. From the degradation of such polysaccharides as starch, cellulose, or chitin to the highly... 

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