Chitinases in bioengineering research

Techniques of introduction of foreign genes into the plant genome have been intensely developed in order to directionally improve properties of crops. One of the key directions in plant bioengineering is searching for and analyzing promising genes, in particular, to construct genotypes with high resistance to pathogens and pests. In this review, the use for this purpose of transgenes coding for chitinase family enzymes is considered. Many of these transgenes have proved to be efficient factors for elevating plant resistance to pathogenic fungi.