Chitinase

Product name : Chitinase

CAS : 9001-06-3

Product Description :
Chitinases are digestive enzymes that break down glycosidic bonds in chitin. Because chitin composes the cell walls of fungi and exoskeletal elements of some animals (including worms and arthropods), chitinases are generally found in organisms that either need to reshape their own chitin or to dissolve and digest the chitin of fungi or animals.
Function:Chitin, like cellulose, has been thought of as abundant but difficult to digest. It is typically considered unavailable carbohydrate in animal diets, though certain fish can digest chitin to sugar; and dogma suggests that just as ruminants need bacteria to digest cellulose, chitin digestion would also require symbiosis and lengthy fermentations. As such, the discovery of animal, and particular mammalian and human chitinases is somewhat surprising. Actually, human chitinases appear in gastric juices. This is likely to be digestive chitinase, for catabolic activity.
Further, chitinase activity can be detected systemically in humans, in the blood. and possibly cartilage. This is related, as is plant chitinase activity, to inflammation/pathogen resistance.