ARE THERE BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS FOR BACTERIAL ENDO-N-ACETYL-BETA-D-GLUCOSAMINIDASES

The endo-N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidases (ENGase) acting on the N-N'- diacetylchitobiosyl core of N-glycosylproteins are essential reagents for the investigation of the structure and the functions of glycoprote ins. These enzymes were largely studied with the aim of offering more tools with new and broader substrate specificities to the community of glycobiologists. Conversely, little attention was given to their pote ntial role in the physiology of bacteria, even though it had been show n that ENGases are important enzymes for the physiology of animal and plant cells. In this brief review, we present the main characteristics of the bacterial ENGases and confine our discussion to biological asp ects of their action in bacterial systems.