• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.865-871
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• 2002

A bacterium having strong chitinolytic activity on $0.2\%$ colloidal chitin-containing agar medium was isolated from coastal soil in Korea. Based on the nucleotide sequence of conserved segment of a 165 rRNA gene, the bacterium was identified as Paenibacillus illinoisensis KJA-424. The population of P. illinoisensis KJA-424 and chitinase activity significantly increased for the first 2 days of incubation. On SDS-PACE analysis with $0.01\%$ glycol chitin, three protein bands (63, 54, and 38 kDa) with chitinolytic activity were detected tooted. The effect of P illinoisensis KJA-424 on the egg hatch of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) was investigated. After 7 days of incubation with the chitinase-producing P. illinoisensis KJA-424, none of the eggs hatched, whereas a $39.8\%$ egg hatching rate was observed in the water control. Inverted and scanning electron microscopic observations demonstrated that P. illinoisensis KJA-424 deformed and destroyed the eggshell of M. incognita. In conclusion, chitinase-produced by p. illinoisensis KJA-424 caused the lysis of M. incognita eggshell and resulted in the inhibition of egg hatching in vitro.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.304-311
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• 1995

To determine whether chitinolytic enzymes from Chromobacterium violaceum C-61 play an important role in the suppression of Rhizoctonia damping-off, Tn5 insertion mutants deficient in chitinolytic activity (Chi a- mutants) were selected and their chitinolytic and disease suppression were compared with those of the parental strain. Four Chi a- mutants selected from about 2,000 transconjugants did not inhibit mycelial growth of Rhizoctonia solani on nutrient agar-potato dextrose agar (BA-PDA) and their abilities to suppress Rhizoctonia damping-off were much lower than the parental strain. However, population density in the eggplant rhizosphere did not differ significantly between the parental strain and four Chi a- mutants. The crude enzyme of the parental strain inhibited growth of R. solani on NA-PDA and its chitinase activity was much higher than that of Chi a- mutants. But the N,N' -diacetylchitobiase activity between these isolates were not significantly different. The chitinase of Chi a- mutants was defective in 2 isoforms of 52- and 37-kDa among four isoforms of 54-, 52-, 50- and 37-kDa. A Tn5 element was inserted into one site of 10 kb EcoRI fragment of chromosomal DNA in three Chi- mutants, C61-C1, -C2, and -C3. In C61-C4 mutant, a Tn5 element was inserted into two sites of 10 kb and 4.4 kb EcoRI fragments. These results suggest that the chitinase of C. violaceum C-61 play an important role in the suppression of Rhizoctonia damping-off of cucumber and eggplant.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.258-264
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• 1995

Production and some properties of chitinolytic enzymes were investigated by 80% ammonium sulfate precipitates (crude enzymes) from culture supernatant of antagonistic bacteria, Chromobacterium violaceum strain C-61 and strain C-72, Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonas caviae, and Serratia marcescens. The maximum production of chitinase was obtained from the 3-day culture at 28$^{\circ}C$ in C. violaceum stains, the 6-day culture in S. marcescens, and the 2-day culture in A. hydrophila and A. caviae. In the optimum culture periods, chitinase activity of C. violaceum strains C-61 was 1.5, 5.5, 12.0 and 11.3 times higher than those of strain C-72, S. marcescens, A. hydrophila and A. caviae, respectively. However, N,N'-diacetylchitobiase activity was 3.2 times higher in S. marcescens than in C. violaceum strain C-61, and that of Aeromonas spp.was very low. On gels containing glycol chitin, chitinase of C. violaceum strains showed four isoforms of 54-, 52-, 50- and 37-kDa, whereas there were four isoforms of 58-, 52-, 48- and 38-kDa in S. arcescens, three isoforms of 70-, 58- and 54-kDa in A. hydrophila and six isoforms of 90-, 79-, 71-, 63-, 58- and 38-kDa in A. caviae. The chitinase of C. violaceum strain C-61 was most active at pH 7.0 and at 5$0^{\circ}C$ and was stable in ranges of pH 5.0~10.0 for 2 hours and of 0~5$0^{\circ}C$ for 30 min.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.470-478
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• 2016

A bacterium producing a large amount of chitinolytic enzyme was isolated from the intestinal tract of earthworm. The isolate was identified as Bacillus licheniformis by 16S ribosomal RNA analysis and designated as B. licheniformis GA9. The enzyme was purified by 40-60% ammonium sulfate precipitation, diethyl-aminoethyl groups exchange chromatography, and gel filtration chromatography. The molecular weight was estimated to be 52.1 kDa and the N-terminal amino acid sequence was D-S-G-K-N-G-K-I-I-R-Y-YP-I-R. The optimum activity of the purified chitinolytic enzyme was shown at pH 5.0 and $40^{\circ}C$, and the enzyme was stable in the ranges of $20-50^{\circ}C$ and pH 5.0-6.0. Enzyme activity was increased by $Co^{2+}$, while it was inhibited by $Cu^{2+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$. But it was recovered by chelating metals with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ values of the purified enzyme were 4.02 mg/ml and 0.52 mg/min, respectively. The chitinolytic enzyme characterized in this study has potential applications in areas such as biotechnology, biomedicine, agriculture, and nutrition.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.337-343
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• 2004

A bacterial strain concurrently producing extracellular chitosanase and chitinase was isolated from soil and identified as a member of the $\beta$-subgroup of Proteobacteria through its 16S rRNA analysis and some biochemical analyses. The newly discovered strain, named as KNU3, had 99% homology of its 16S rRNA sequence with chitinolytic $\beta$-Proteobacterium CTE108. Strain KNU3 produced 34 kDa of chitosanase in addition to two chitinases of 68 kDa and 30 kDa, respectively. The purified chitosanase protein (ChoK) showed activity toward soluble, colloidal, and glycol chitosan, but did not exhibit any activity toward colloidal chitin. The optimum pH and temperature of ChoK were 6.0 and $70^{\circ}C$, respectively. The chitosanase was stable in the pH 4.0 to 8.0 range at $70^{\circ}C$, while enzyme activity was relatively stable at below $45^{\circ}C$. MALDI-TOF MS and N-terminal amino acid sequence analyses indicated that ChoK protein is related to chitosanases from Matsuebacter sp. and Sphingobacterium multivorum. HPLC analysis of chitosan lysates revealed that glucosamine tetramers and hexamers were the major products of hydrolysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 1986.12a
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• pp.522.3-523
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• 1986

A Screening test was carried out for chitin-decomposing bacteria. In 100 samples from soil, fesh water and sea water, 7 strains of Chitinolytic bacteria were isolated. 5-3K which exhibited the highest chitinase activity was identified as Aeromonas hydrophila and cultural conditions from maximum chitinase production were determined. Optimum Chitinase production was obtained at pH 7, 33eC and with chitin concentration greater tham 0.2% Under optimal conditions, high yields of Chitinase were obtained in 16-30 hours. Chitinase was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and sephadex G-100 gel-filtration from the culture filtrgte.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.255-260
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• 1991

Chitinase was partially purified from Allium fistulosum L (green onion_. Protein fraction precipitated from ammonium sulfate was passed through CM-Sepharose and Sephacryl HR-200. The specific activity of the chitinase was 6.4 units/mg and total recovery was 6.3%. The analysis of the products from the digestion of N-acetychitohexaose indicated that chitinase was endo in action, with oligerms from N-acetylchitobiose to chitotetraose. N-Acetylglucosaminidase from the same species hydrolyzed oligomers obtained from chitinase reaction to lower oligosaccharides. These data demonstrated that chitinolytic system exists in green onion.

• 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.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.696-703
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• 1996

The bacterium Serratia marcescens QM Bl466 produces selectively large amount of chitinolytic enzymes(about 1mg/L medium). Enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin to N-acelyl-${\beta}$-D-glucosamine(NAG) is performed by a system consisting of two hydrolases : chitinase and chilobiase. Objectives of this study included optimization of a microbial host by using chitin particles for chitinase/chitobiase production and secretion and also development of batch fermentation system for high cell density cultivalion of S. marcescens QM B1466. Also, the influence of chitin source and carboxymethyl(CM) chitin on chitinase/chitobiase production and NAG production was investigated. When carboxymethyl chitin was substituted for colloidal and practical grade chitin, the chitinase activity was increased about 7∼10U/mL. In this case, the ratio of chitinase/chitobiase was 30.03U/3.44U(9:1). The highest amounts of NAG(3.0g/L) was obtained.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 1998

The strain of Serratia marcescens QM B1466 produces selectively large amount of chitinolytic enzymes (about 1mg/L medium). Enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin to N-acetyl-${\beta}$-D-glucosamine (NAG) was performed with a system consisting of two hydrolases (chitinase and chitobiase) produced by optimization of a microbial host consuming chitin particles. For the development of Large-scale biological process for the production of NAG from chitinaceous waste, the selection and optimization of a microbial host, particle size of crab/shrimp chitin sources and initial induction time using chitin as a sole carbon source on chitinase/chitobiase production and NAG production were examined. Crab-shell chitin(1.5%) treated by dilute acid and , ball-milled with a normal diameter less than 250m gave the highest chitinase activity over a 7 days culture. Crude chitinase/ chitobiase solution obtained in a 10 L fed-batch fermentation showed a maximum activities of 23.6 U/mL and 5.1 U/mL, respectively with a feeding time of 3 hrs, near pH 8.5 at 30$^{\circ}C$.