Enzymatic Deacetylation of Chitin by Extracellular Chitin Deacetylase from a Newly Screened Mortierella sp. DY-52

Among more than a hundred colonies of fungi isolated from soil samples, DY-52 has been screened as an extracellular chitin deacetylase (CDA) producer. The isolate was further identified as Mortierella sp., based on the morphological properties and the nucleotide sequence of its 18S rRNA gene. The fungus exhibited maximal growth in yeast peptone glucose (YPD) liquid medium containing 2% of glucose at pH 5.0 and $28^{\circ}C$ with 150 rpm. The CDA activity of DY-52 was maximal (20 U/mg) on the 3rd day of culture in the same medium. The CDA was inducible by addition of glucose and chitin. The enzyme contained two isoforms of molecular mass 50 kDa and 59 kDa. This enzyme showed a maximal activity at pH 5.5 and $60^{\circ}C$. In addition, it had a pH stability range of 4.5-8.0 and a temperature stability range of $4-40^{\circ}C$. The enzyme was enhanced in the presence of $Co^{2+}$ and $Ca^{2+}$. Among various substrates tested, WSCT-50 (water-soluble chitin, degree of deacetylation 50%), glycol chitin, and crab chitosan (DD 71-88%) were deacetylated. Moreover, the CDA can handle N-acetylglucosamine oligomers $(GlcNAc)_{2-7}$.