SOAJ Entomological Studies Volume 1 (2012) 1-32 Review Article ISSN 2278-5566 DIGESTIVE PHYSIOLOGY OF SYNANTHROPIC MITES (ACARI: ACARIDIDA) Tomas Erban a,b and Jan Hubert a,b  a.Medical Center Prague, Prague 4, Czechia b.Crop Research Institute, Department of Product Stored Pest Control and Food Safety, Prague 6, Czechia. (Received 25 November 2011, Accepted 25 December 2011; Academic Editor: Arash Zibaee) Copyright © 2012 Tomas Erban and Jan Hubert. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Although nutritional biology and digestive enzymes of the synanthropic acaridid mites have been studied for many decades, full understanding of these processes remains incomplete. Twenty one species of acaridid mites by high frequency of occurrence were used in enzymological studies, including species living in house dust or products stored for human and animal consumption. In mites by allergen importance, the proteases, α-amylases, chitinases have been identified as allergens and characterized on biochemical level, even if the crystal structure has been described. However, basic informations about in vivo conditions such as lumen pH offer key informations to study the activity of mite digestive enzymes including their inhibitors and gut microflora. The gut contents of acaridid mites were determined to be within a pH range of 4 to 7. Mite habitats provide various nutrients, mainly structural (keratin, collagen, elastin) and “unstructural” proteins; lipids, structural and storage carbohydrates, sucrose and nutrients in microorganism. Reviewes on hydrolyzing enzymes indicate that mites are well equipped to hydrolyze structural and storage carbohydrates in plant cells and microorganisms. The symbiotic interactions between mites and microorganisms are important to explore nutrient sources and microphagy, i.e. bacteriophagy and mycophagy, seems to be favorable or, in some environments, even essential for synanthropic acaridid mites. Previously, the concepts of feeding habits and enzymatic activity were suggested, however the review of activity relegated that there are no direct correlation among the enzymatic activity and feeding habits. Keywords: Digestion, Enzyme, Inhibitor, Allergen, Mite CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Food Resources and Feeding Guilds of Mites in Human Made Habitats  . Corresponding: Tomas Erban (arachnid@centrum.cz), Crop Research Institute, Department of Stored Product Pest Control and Food Safety, Laboratory of Proteomics. Tel: +420604127807.