Antifungal chitinase (bio-control agent) production from bacillus sp

In this study, chitinase were produced from natural isolate Bacillus licheniformis HBK-105 and Paenibacillus illinoisensis HBK-5, characterization of enzyme was performed and antifungal activity of chitinase were investigated. It was found that chitinase from HBK-105 and HBK-5 showed optimum activity in pH 5.0 and 8.0 at 50°C, respectively. Chitinase activity from HBK-105 was increased by Ca+2, Mg+2, PMSF, EDTA, Sodium sulfite, was not affected by Ba+2, Hg+2, Zn+2, Fe+2, Ag+ and was prominently decreased by DMSO, β-mercaptoethanol, Tween 80, DTT, N-bromosuccinimide and phenol glyoxal. Chitinase activity from HBK-5 was increased in the presence of Co+2, Li+, Zn+2, DMSO, Tween 80 and urea while it was significantly decreased by Cu+2, Ba+2, Hg+2, Ag+, PMSF and β-mercaptoethanol. HBK-105 and HBK-5 chitinases showed antifungal activity against the fungal pathogens Candida albicans, Penicillum digitatum and Cladosporium herbarum but it was inefficient against Botrytis cinerea. In addition, HBK-105 chitinase showed antifungal activity against Alternaria alternata that was different with HBK-5. In the light of these results, it was concluded that two chitinase produced from natural isolates can be evaluated as potential biocontrol agent, specifically for against plant pathogen fungi and in the infections of human pathogen Candida albicans