Description
In fungi, chitin biosynthesis is catalyzed by a set of highly conserved isoenzymes called chitin synthases (CHS), which are encoded by a multigenic family. Multiplicity of chs genes in fungal genomes requires their classification for comparative functional genomics. Fungal CHS are classified into multiple divisions and classes according to protein similarities in their catalytic domain. In this analysis, more than 700 CHS were detected from around 90 fungal genomes. Their phylogenetic relationships were studied with special care to avoid any pitfalls associated with the peculiarities of these sequences (e.g. highly variable regions, truncated or recombined sequences, long-branch attraction). This study aims to determine what can be robustly classified and to provide the most consensual classification possible. To facilitate its use the databank is given in fasta format for all classified fungal CHS sequences, with an extension to CHS from other species. A blast search on this bank allows the user to easily find the class of a previously identified CHS, even if the corresponding accession number has changed (as is often the case for fungal sequences). It can also be used as an aid for classifying CHS from species closely related to those analyzed.
Citation
If you are using this classification, please cite:
IR Gonçalves, S Brouillet, MC Soulié, S Gribaldo, C Sirven, N Charron, M Boccara and M Choquer. Genome-wide analyses of chitin synthases identify horizontal gene transfers towards bacteria and allow a robust and unifying classification into fungi. BMC Evol Biol. 2016 Nov 24;16(1):252.
You can download the full article here
History of releases
- August 2018: Second release with an update of bacterial CHS-like proteins
- June 2016: First release