AUTHOR=Berini Francesca , Casartelli Morena , Montali Aurora , Reguzzoni Marcella , Tettamanti Gianluca , Marinelli Flavia TITLE=Metagenome-Sourced Microbial Chitinases as Potential Insecticide Proteins JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=10 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01358 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.01358 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
Microbial chitinases are gaining interest as promising candidates for controlling plant pests. These enzymes can be used directly as biocontrol agents as well as in combination with chemical pesticides or other biopesticides, reducing their environmental impact and/or enhancing their efficacy. Chitinolytic enzymes can target two different structures in insects: the cuticle and the peritrophic matrix (PM). PM, formed by chitin fibrils connected to glycoproteins and proteoglycans, represents a physical barrier that plays an essential role in midgut physiology and insect digestion, and protects the absorptive midgut epithelium from food abrasion or pathogen infections. In this paper, we investigate how two recently discovered metagenome-sourced chitinases (Chi18H8 and 53D1) affect,