第246回 平成18年3月10日
(第138回 遺伝子機能解析分野セミナー)

演題 海洋性細菌Vibrio furnissii と Vibrio cholerae のキチン代謝
   朴 齋權(Rochester大学歯学部)
 
 Chitin catabolism in the marine bacterium Vibrio furnissii and Vibrio cholerae is much more complex, involving a minimum of three signal transduction and many genes and proteins, only some of which have been identified. In the process, briefly, extracellular chitin is partially hydrolyzed into oligosaccharides by extracellular chitinases and diffuse through a chitoporin into the periplasmic space. The combined action of two unique enzymes in the periplasm, a chitodextrinase and a specific ?-N-acetylglucosaminidase, yields two products, GlcNAc and (GlcNAc)2. The GlcNAc is taken up via the phosphotransferase system (PTS), whereas (GlcNAc)2 is taken up unchanged. The further catabolism of (GlcNAc)2 is one of the major subjects of this study. Also, a number of genes identified previously in V. furnissii appeared to be clustered in the genome of V. cholerae, and since they may constitute a chitin degradation operon, we are attempting to identify the functions of the other presumptive genes.