Selection and Structural Analysis by Bioinformatic Tools of Several Proteins Involved in Chitin Biosynthesis in the Fungus Mucor lusitanicus

Mucormycosis is a fungal infection caused by many species of fungi belonging to the Mucorales order, mainly in immunocompromised patients. Although rare, this disease has a high mortality rate, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, there is no specific treatment for this disease. This study aims to identify the major genes involved in chitin synthesis - an important component of cell structure. The list of candidate genes was selected based on the database of the Mucor lusitanicus fungal genome and its transcriptome analysis under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The candidate genes were analyzed for structure and function prediction using bioinformatics tools. The study identified two candidate genes encoding chitin synthase (chs) and one gene encoding chitin deacetylase (cda) with characteristic domain structures from a total of 70 related proteins. The results of this study provide a basis for experimental studies to analyze the functions of these proteins.