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Lysozymes in insects: what role do they play in nitrogen metabolism?
Author(s) -
Fujita AI
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.0307-6962.2004.00393.x
Subject(s) - biology , enzyme , stomach , lysis , bacteria , biochemistry , metabolism , zoology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics
. Lysozymes are widely distributed in many organisms as one of the components of defence mechanisms. In herbivores, when nitrogen is not contained in sufficient amounts in the diet, bacteria lysed by stomach lysozymes are used as sources of nitrogen. In ruminants, lysozymes function as digestive enzymes in the true stomach. A convergence of amino acid sequence has been shown between the stomach lysozymes of different ruminants, and similar lysozymes have recently been reported in the gut or salivary gland of insects. In this mini review, the enzymatic and ecological functions of lysozymes in insects, particularly in termites, are introduced, together with future studies that are needed in this field.