Member database | Pfam |
Pfam type | domain |
Short name | Chitin_bind_4 |
Author | Finn RD;0000-0001-8626-2148 Bateman A;0000-0002-6982-4660 |
Sequence Ontology | 0000417 |
Description
Many insect cuticular proteins include a 35-36 amino acid motif known as the R&R consensus. The extensive conservation of this region led to the suggestion that it functions to bind chitin. Provocatively, it has no sequence similarity to the well-known cysteine-containing chitin-binding domain found in chitinases and some peritrophic membrane proteins. Chitin binding has been shown experimentally for this region
[1]. Thus arthropods have two distinct classes of chitin binding proteins, those with the chitin-binding domain found in lectins, chitinases and peritrophic membranes (cysCBD) and those with the cuticular protein chitin-binding domain (non-cysCBD)
[1].
References
1.A conserved domain in arthropod cuticular proteins binds chitin. Rebers JE, Willis JH. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 31, 1083-93, (2001). View articlePMID: 11520687