State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection and Shenzhen Agricultural Genome Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, People's Republic of China.
School of Bioengineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, People's Republic of China.
J Agric Food Chem. 2020 Apr 22;68(16):4559-4565. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.0c00888. Epub 2020 Apr 8.
Chitinase (EC 3.2.1.14) is an enzyme to breakdown β-1,4-glycosidic bonds in chitin and chitooligosaccharides. The loss of chitinase enzymatic activity in insects results in severe exoskeleton defects and lethality at all developmental stages, indicating that insect chitinases can be promising pesticide targets. However, there are no pesticides known to target chitinases. This perspective will focus on the latest research progress of insect chitinases, paying special attention to crystal structures and chemical biology advances in the field. The physiological importance and unique structural features of insect chitinases may ensure the development of new pesticides through a novel acting mode.
几丁质酶（EC 3.2.1.14）是一种能够水解几丁质和壳寡糖中β-1,4-糖苷键的酶。昆虫几丁质酶活性的丧失会导致严重的外骨骼缺陷和各发育阶段的致死，这表明昆虫几丁质酶可能是有前途的农药靶标。然而，目前尚无针对几丁质酶的农药。本观点将重点介绍昆虫几丁质酶的最新研究进展，特别关注该领域的晶体结构和化学生物学进展。昆虫几丁质酶的生理重要性和独特的结构特征可能通过新的作用模式确保新农药的开发。
