Biochemistry: The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells, Volume 2 - D. Metzler 1980
Biosynthesis: How New Molecules Are Formed
Polysaccharide Synthesis
Cellulose and Chitin
Despite the obvious importance of the problem, the details of the synthesis of Cellulose and Chitin, which consist of regular polymer chains with ß-1,4-linkages, remain virtually unknown. Cellulose synthases transfer glucosyl units from GDP-glucose or UDP-glucose, while chitin synthases transfer them from UDP-N-acetylglucosamine. The solubilized form of fungal chitin synthase is represented by ellipsoidal granules 35–100 nm in size, which, in the presence of a substrate, produce microfibrils with a diameter of 12–18 nm [20]. Apparently, an aggregated multienzyme system synthesizes many parallel polymer chains that form hydrogen-bonded microfibrils. A similar mechanism is hypothesized to operate during cellulose synthesis [21, 21a].
Last update: 06/08/2026
Editorial and Educational Adaptation: This material has been compiled based on the primary/original source text. The project team performed an editorial review, corrected technical inaccuracies, structured sections, and adapted the content for an educational format.
What was processed:
- elimination of formatting defects (OCR errors, structural breaks, corrupted characters);
- editorial organization of content;
- standardization of terminology in accordance with academic sources;
- verification of factual statements against the original source text.
All mentions of the author, publication year, and origin of the primary text have been preserved in accordance with the source.