Production and characterization of bacterial chitinase as an antifungal agent

The chitin molecule is the main component of the outer skeleton of shells and insects such as shrimp and crab, especially the cell wall of fungi. Inhibition of chitin synthesis is the target for antifungal agents. In addition to antifungal drugs, chitinase enzymes are also used in a variety of biotechnological applications, including the reuse of chitin, the second most abundant biopolymer in the world. In this work, it is aimed to isolate and characterize chitinase enzyme which can be used in industrial applications. In the study, chitinase producing microorganisms were isolated by agar diffusion method using colloidal chitin substrate. After the enzyme activity was quantitatively determined by the dinitrosalicylic acid method, the enzyme of the microorganism with the highest chitinase activity was partially purified by the ammonium sulfate precipitation method and its antifungal properties were investigated. Optimum temperature and pH values and stability of enzyme activity, substrate specificity were determined by spectroscopic methods and enzyme kinetics were measured. The organism that produced the highest zone diameter produced the enzyme chitinase with specific activity of 4.73 U / mg at 30 hours. The enzyme produced shows activity at optimum 300C and pH 7.0. This microorganism isolated as chitinase producer was identified as Aeromanas caviae by 16S rRNA sequence analysis.