1. Having to do with an enzyme which converts chitin, a polysaccharide that forms the hard, outer shell of arthropods (insects, spiders, crustaceas, etc.) and the cell walls of fungi and some algae, into chitobiose, which is a disaccharide secreted by such things as spiders and some plants.
Origin: Gr. Lysis = dissolution
(05 Jan 1998)
