• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 1999

For the selection of an effective antagonistic biocontrol agent, we have isolated an antagonistic bacterium which produced extracellular chitinase, from a local soil of Kyongju, Korea. The selected strain was identified as Serratia proteamaculans 3095. The chitinase produced from Serratia sp. 3095 showed antifungal activity which can attack the hypha surface of Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani. The carbon and nitrogen sources for chitinase production were 0.15% colloidal chitin and 0.1% ammonium sulfate, respectively. Glucose in the chitinase production medium might inhibit the production of chitinase by feed back repression. The antagonistic Serratia sp. 3095 also showed a powerful biocontrol activity against F. oxysporum through in vitro test and in vivo pot test.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.318-328
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• 2017

Chitinase-producing Paenibacillus elgii strain HOA73 has been used to control plant diseases. However, the antimicrobial activity of its extracellular chitinase has not been fully elucidated. The major extracellular chitinase gene (PeChi68) from strain HOA73 was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli in this study. This gene had an open reading frame of 2,028 bp, encoding a protein of 675 amino acid residues containing a secretion signal peptide, a chitin-binding domain, two fibronectin type III domains, and a catalytic hydrolase domain. The chitinase (PeChi68) purified from recombinant E. coli exhibited a molecular mass of approximately 68 kDa on SDS-PAGE. Biochemical analysis indicated that optimum temperature for the actitvity of purified chitinase was $50^{\circ}C$. However, it was inactivated with time when it was incubated at $40^{\circ}C$ and $50^{\circ}C$. Its optimum activity was found at pH 7, although its activity was stable when incubated between pH 3 and pH 11. Heavy metals inhibited this chitinase. This purified chitinase completely inhibited spore germination of two Cladosporium isolates and partially inhibited germination of Botrytis cinerea spores. However, it had no effect on the spores of a Colletotricum isolate. These results indicate that the extracellular chitinase produced by P. elgii HOA73 might have function in limiting spore germination of certain fungal pathogens.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 1999

An extracellular chitinase of the selected strong antifungal microorganism, Serratia sp. 3095, was purified by salting out, affinity adsorption, Sepadex G-100 gel fitration, Sepadex G-75 gel fitration and DEAE Sepadex A-50 chromatography. The molecular weight of the purified chitinase was estimated to be 62,000 dalton by SDS-PAGE. Optimal pH and temperature of the chitinase were pH 7.5 and 45, respectively. The enzyme retained more than 80% of the activity between pH 5.5 and pH 10.5, and below $50^{\circ}C$ but was unstable above $60^{\circ}C$, below pH 5.0. The activity of the chitinase was inhibited about 60% by $Sn^{2+}$, 40% by $Hg^{2+}$ and $Ag^+$, 70% by AHA, 40% by iodoacetate, 35% by thiourea and p-CMB, but stabilized by SDS. $K_m$ value of the purified chitinase was 3.68 mg/ml for colloidal chitin. The chitinase from Serratia sp. 3095 showed antifungal activity to Fusariurm solani.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.275-282
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• 2005

A chitinolytic bacterium, Chromobacterium sp. strain C-61, was found strongly antagonistic to Rhizoctonia solani, a causal agent of damping-off of eggplant. In this study, the biocontrol activity and enzymatic characteristics of strain C-61 were compared with its four Tn5 insertion mutants (C61-A, -B, -C, and -D) that had lower chitinolytic ability. The chitinase activity of a 2-day old culture was about $76\%,\;49\%\;and\;6\%$ level in C61-A, C61-B and in C61-C, respectively, compared with that of strain C-61. The $\beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase$(Nahase) activity was little detected in strain C-61 but increased largely in C-61A, C61-B and C61-C. Activities of chitinase and Nahase appeared to be negatively correlated in these strains. Another mutant, C-61D, produced no detectable extracellular chitinase and Nahase. The in vitro and in vivo biocontrol activities of strain C-61 and its mutants were closely related to their ability to produce chitinase but not Nahase. No significant differences in population densities between strain C-61 and its mutants were observed in soil around eggplant roots. The results of SDS-PAGE and isoelectrofocusing showed that a major chitinase of strain C-61 is 54-kDa with pI of approximately 8.5. This study provides evidence that the biocontrol activity of Chromobacterium sp. strain C-61 against Rhizoctonia solani depends on the ability to produce chitinase with molecular weight of 54-kDa and pI of 8.5.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.125-129
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• 1998

Xanthomonas sp. isolated from soil exhibited cell wall lytic activity of Candida albicans and secreted chitinase in chitin media. Especially, the chitinase activity was induced by chitin and reached a maximum level at 3 days culture in chitin media. We constructed genomic library of Xanthomonas sp. using cosmid vector in E. coli. Oligonucleotide probe was synthesized from the consensus sequence corresponding to chitinase active site, which was derived from the comparison of amino acid sequences of bacterial chitinase genes. Using this oligonucleotide probe, we screened the genomic library. By restriction enzyme mapping of the positive clones, we identified 4 independent clones which may contain the chitinase gene. One of the clones, named pXCH1 (1.2 kb insert), was further analyzed. Northern blot analysis indicated that is transcripts, 1 kb and 0.8 kb, were induced by chitin. When the cloned gene was induced by IPTG in E.coli cell, chitinase activity which was secreted onto culture media was not observed. However, when the cell was disrupted by using sonicator and then centrifuged, the supernatant exhibited chitinase activity. SDS-PAGE of the supernatant indicated that about 35 kDa protein was induced by IPTG. From these results, it was concluded that the cloned DNA was one of the chitinase genes of Xanthomonas sp.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.131-138
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• 2014

In this study, we isolated two novel chitinase producing bacterial strains from yellow loess samples collected from Jullanamdo province. The chitinase producing bacteria were isolated based on the zone size of clearance in the chitin agar plates. Both of them were gram positive, rod ($2{\sim}3{\times}0.3{\sim}0.4{\mu}m$), spore-forming, and motility positive. They were facultative anaerobic, catalase positive and hydrolyzed starch, gelatin, and casein. From the 16s rRNA gene sequence analysis, the isolates were labeled as Bacillus licheniformis KYLS-CU01 and B. licheniformis KYLS-CU02. The isolates showed higher extracellular chitinase activities than B. licheniformis ATCC 14580 as a control. The optimum temperature and pH for chitinase production were $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0, respectively. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the culture medium for efficient production of the chitinase. Under this optimal condition, 1.5 times higher chitinase activity of B. licheniformis KYLS-CU02 was obtained. Extracellular chitinases of the two isolates were purified through ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. The specific activities of purified chitinase from B. licheniformis KYLS-CU01 and B. licheniformis KYLS-CU02 were 7.65 and 5.21 U/mg protein, respectively. The molecular weights of the two purified chitinases were 59 kDa. Further, the purified chitinase of B. licheniformis KYLS-CU01 showed high antifungal activity against Fusarium sp.. In conclusion, these two bacterial isolates can be used as a biopesticide to control pathogenic fungi.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.56-62
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• 1989

Antagonistic effects of Streptomyces species aganinst Fusarium solani causing ginseng root rot were investigated in terms of chitinase activity and growth inhibition in vitro. Among 131 isolates of streptomycetes obtained from ginseng cultivating soil, 9 isolates producing large clear zone around the colony on a chitin agar medium were selected for further study. All 9 isolates produced chitinase in a range from 0.10 to 0.38 U lysing cells of F. solani and inhibited germination of the conidia. In the ten-fold condentrated culture filtrate of S. alboniger ST59 and S. roseolilacinus ST129, the number of conidia of F. solane was reduced to about 20% of original count within 14 days. When S. alboniger ST59 and F. solani were grown simultaneously in the mineral saly medium, chitinase activity increased with incubation period, whereas mycelial volume of F. solani decreased. In a chitin added mineral salt medium, chitinase activity increased during the first four days and maintained steady level until the 8th day, and increased thereafter. S. alboniger ST59 lysed mycelia, conidia and even chlamydospores of F. solani. It is probable that the antagonistic activity of this streptomycete against F. solani is the lysis of fungal cell wall by streptomycete producing chitinase affected by antifungal substances.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.72-80
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• 1996

A chitinase-producing bacterium, Serratia marcescens JM, was isolated from a seashore muds. A chitinase was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, affinity adsorption, hydroxylapatite and sephadex G-200 column chromatography. The chitinase obtained from Serratia marcescens JM was purified 42.2 folds with the overall yield of 7.1%. The purified chitinase showed a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight of the enzyme was 59,000 and the apparent kinetic parameters $K_m\;and\;V_{max}$ for the purified chitinase were 5.17 mg/mL and 39.8 unit/mL, respectively. The optimum pH and temperature of the purified chitinase were 7.0 and 50$^{\circ}C$, respectively and the purified enzyme was stable on pH 7.0 up to 50$^{\circ}C$. The enzyme were activated by $Cu^{2+},\;Ca^{2+}\;and\;Mg^{2+}$ and inhibited by $Hg^{2+}$ respectively. In addition, Cysteine increased the chitinase activity and EDTA, MIA, PCMB and SDS inhibited enzyme activities. Major cations, $MG^{2+},\;Ca^{2+},\;K^+\;and\; Na^+$ present in seawater slightly stimulated the chitinase activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.647-652
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• 2004

Thermophilic microorganisms capable of producing chitinase enzymes were screened from samples collected from several crater and geothermal areas. The chitinolytic microorganisms were grown in a selective medium containing colloidal chitin. The Bacillus K29-14 isolate was found to exhibit the highest chitinase and chitin deacetylase activities. When grown in a chitin-containing medium, the isolate produced extracellular chitinase after 24 h of incubation. The optimum temperature and pH for the chitinase were $55^\circ{C}$ and pH 7, respectively, while those for the chitin deacetylase were $55^\circ{C}$ and pH 8, respectively. The thermostable chitinase and chitin deacetylase also retained 80- 90% of their activity after incubation for 5 h at $70^\circ{C}$. The divalent cations $CoCl_2\;and\;NiCl_2$, increased the chitinase activity, while $ZnCl_2$, inhibited the enzyme. The chitin deacetylase was also activated by the presence of $MgCl_2$ and inhibited by $MnCl_2,\;NiCl_2,\;and\;CaCl_2$. A zymogram analysis revealed several forms of chitinase, with a 67 kDa form being the major enzyme.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.167-170
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• 2004

A self-directing optimization procedure was applied to determine the best environmental factors in operating the bioreactor. The self-directing optimization process was employed to determine the best conditional combination of multi parameters, pH, temperature, aeration rate and mixing rate toy maximal production of chitinase by Trichoderma harzianum SJG-99721 in batch mode fermentation. Among these factors, the parameters of pH and aeration rate were found to be particularly important on mycellial growth and chitinase activity. pH 4.89, an aeration rate of 3.22 ι per minute and an agitation rate of 225 rpm was found to be the best combination. By the optimization, chitinase activity was dramatically increased from an initial value of 4.221 U under basic conditions to n final value of 16.825 U.