• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.40 no.5
• /
• pp.369-374
• /
• 1997

An endochitosanase-producing bacterium was isolated from soil and identified as a strain of Bacillus sp. The isolate was gram positive, rod shape $(0.4-0.6{\times}1.6-2.2{\mu}m)$, endospore-forming, catalase positive, and mobility positive, and grown at pH 4.5-11.0 and upto $42^{\circ}C$ in the medium containing 2% NaCl. RAPD analysis of the DNA purified from the strain was also performed, and the chitosanase-producing strain was named as Bacillus sp. P16. The culture supernatant of the strain showed strong liquefaction activity and rapidly decreased viscosity of chitosan solution. By TLC and HPLC, chitooligosaccharides of DP 2-7 were separated and identified from the enzyme hydrolyzates of chitosan. The chitosanase from Bacillus sp. P16 was thus regarded as an endo-splitting type.