Chitin is one of the most abundant biopolymers, and has the similar primary structure to cellulose except to the C2 position of the glucopyranoside ring replaced by the acetamide group. Similarly to cellulose, chitin naturally occurs in fibrous crystalline state, namely microfibril. Although the crystal structure of chitin has been studied with diffraction analyses, the structure of the microfibrils has not been characterized so far. In this study, we investigated the ultrastructure of highly-crystalline chitin microfibrils by high-resolution electron microscopy and electron diffraction analyses. We proposed the molecular packing models for these microfibrils, and discussed surface structure and biosynthesis mechanisms.

High-resolution electron microscopy and electron diffraction on highly-crystalline chitin microfibrils

245th National Meeting (2013)

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