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It is a primary component of cell walls in fungi (especially filamentous and mushroom-forming fungi), the exoskeletons of arthropods such as crustaceans and insects, the radulae, cephalopod beaks and gladii of molluscs and in some nematodes and diatoms. [2] [3] It is also synthesised by at least some fish and lissamphibians. [4]
Chitin-glucan complex (CGC) is a copolymer (polysaccharide) that makes up fungal cell walls, consisting of covalently-bonded chitin and branched 1,3/1,6-ß-D-glucan. CGCs are alkaline-insoluble. Different species of fungi have different structural compositions of chitin and β-glucan making up the CGCs in their cell walls. [1]
The fungal cell wall is made of a chitin-glucan complex; while glucans are also found in plants and chitin in the exoskeleton of arthropods, [36] fungi are the only organisms that combine these two structural molecules in their cell wall. Unlike those of plants and oomycetes, fungal cell walls do not contain cellulose. [37] [38]
Most true fungi have a cell wall consisting largely of chitin and other polysaccharides. [28] True fungi do not have cellulose in their cell walls. [16] In fungi, the cell wall is the outer-most layer, external to the plasma membrane. The fungal cell wall is a matrix of three main components: [16]
Septa are usually perforated by pores large enough for ribosomes, mitochondria, and sometimes nuclei to flow between cells. The major structural polymer in fungal cell walls is typically chitin, in contrast to plants and oomycetes that have cellulosic cell walls. Some fungi have aseptate hyphae, meaning their hyphae are not partitioned by septa.
One difference that places fungi in a different kingdom is that their cell walls contain chitin, unlike the cell walls of plants, bacteria and some protists. Similar to animals, fungi are heterotrophs , that is, they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment.
The cell walls fluoresce to a vivid blue color. Calcofluor-white or CFW is a fluorescent blue dye used in biology and textiles. It binds to 1–3 beta and 1–4 beta polysaccharides of chitin and cellulose that are present in cell walls on fungi, plants, and algae.
Chytrids are one of the earliest diverging fungal lineages, and their membership in kingdom Fungi is demonstrated with chitin cell walls, a posterior whiplash flagellum, absorptive nutrition, use of glycogen as an energy storage compound, and synthesis of lysine by the α-amino adipic acid (AAA) pathway. [2] [3]