• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 1993

Among 294 Actinomycetes isolated from soil, a strain that had appeared to produce the highest level of chitinase selected for further studies. The selected strain was identified as a Streptomyces lydicus based on the data obtained from the morphological, biochemical and cultural experiments. The cultural conditions for the enzyme production were also examined, and the results obtained were as follows: the maximal enzyme production was attained when the cells were cultured at $30^{\circ}C$ for 6 days in the medium supplemented with 2% of colloidal chitin. The optimum initial pH of the medium was observed to be 8. It was also found that the most effective carbon and nitrogen sources were soluble starch and ammonium oxalate, respectively.