Abstract
Chitin is ans ubiquitous component of fungal cell walls. Only a few classes of fungi, such as the Oomycetes and Trichomycetes (Bartnicki-Garcia 1968) appear to lack chitin. Even in species of the Saccharomycetaceae, which were classified as devoid of chitin by Bartnicki-Garcia, small amounts of the polysaccharide are found in the cell wall, with a preferential localization in the septum (Cabib et al. 1974). Because of its function in the generation and maintenance of cell shape and in the formation of septa, chitin is of great importance in fungal growth and physiology. For the same reasons, it constitutes a very useful model for the study of morphogenetic processes. Hence the interest of many investigators in this polysaccharide, which may be considered the equivalent, for fungi, of cellulose in the plant kingdom.
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Cabib, E. (1981). Chitin: Structure, Metabolism, and Regulation of Biosynthesis. In: Tanner, W., Loewus, F.A. (eds) Plant Carbohydrates II. Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, vol 13 / B. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68234-6_16
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