Fungal chitinase production and its application in biowaste management

Abstract

Chitinases find wide applications in pest control, pollution abatement and in management of marine wastes. A marine soil isolate <i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT;mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT">Aspergillus terreus</span></i>, having chitinase activity was cultivated on sucrose-peptone-yeast extract medium. Colloidal chitin replaced sucrose in the production medium. The cultivation conditions were optimized using single parameter approach and Placket-Burman statistical design. The enzyme activity was estimated using di-nitrosalicylic acid method. Chitinolytic activity was 52 U/ml in shake flask experiments and 29.2 U/ml on a 3 L laboratory fermenter. The enzyme extracted with cold acetone showed a prominent band having a molecular weight of 52.8 kDa on SDS PAGE. The organism utilized chitin present in mushroom (<i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT;mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT">Agaricus bisporus</span></i>) when used as a sole source of carbon with the enzyme activity being 82.38 U/ml. The enzyme was stable at wide temperature range 30- 70 °C maximum activity seen at 50 °C. The study has a considerable significance and impact in bioremediation of biological waste.