Paper Title
Structural Bioinformatics Characterization Of Fungal And Bacterial Chitin Deacetylases

Abstract
The purpose of this work is to use structural bioinformatics tools to characterize and compare the structures of chitin deacetylases belonging to fungi and bacteria. This information is valuable for increasing our knowledge concerning the use of chitin deacetylases for the enzymatic conversion of chitin to chitosan, as the currently used chemical procedure is toxic for the environment. Despite the reduced sequences identity for investigated chitin deacetylases, there are amino acids belonging to their active sites that are strongly conserved reflecting the common biological function of these enzymes. The most dissimilar structures of chitin deacetylases are registered for enzymes belonging to Aspergillus nidulans and Vibrio cholerae. The active site cavities of the investigated proteins reveal a high local hydrophobic density. There are local features of the active sites cavities of enzymes revealing subtle alterations that may influence substrate specificity and site affinity. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the grant PN3-P3-284, Biotechnological tools implementation for new wound healing applications of byproducts from the crustacean seafood processing industry (CHITOWOUND).