• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.145-150
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• 2003

To determine effectively the chitinolytic activity of rCHT1 from the hard tick H. longicornis expressed in baculovirus-mediated Spodoptera frugtperda (Sf) 9 cells, a simple and sensitive assay system was established in solid phase using agarose gel containing ethylene glycol chitin as substrate. The various factors affecting the efficacy of the assay were also investigated. The effects of various temperature, dosages of proteins, pH of media and time courses of reaction were examined to verify the sensitivity of assay for chitinolytic activity of rCHT1 protein. It was found that the optimal reactive conditions were $37^{\circ}C$ of temperature, 12 to 15 hours of reactive times, $0.1{\mu}g$ of protein concentration and pH 5 to 7 of media. Using the assay system designed, the functional activities of H. longicornis rCHT1l protein could be evaluated simply and sensitively.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2012

Sucrose-glucan glucosyltransferase (Gtf) is an important enzyme involved in the cavity formation process where insoluble glucan is synthesized. In this study, we purified Gtf from Streptcoccus mutans Ingbritt through ammonium sulfate precipitation, Sephadex G-150, CM-Sephadex, and DEAE-Sephadex column chromatographies. A 13-fold of purification was achieved with a total yield of 6.3%. The apparent molecular mass of the enzyme was determined to be 66 kDa on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The optimal pH and temperature were established to be 6.0 and $40^{\circ}C$, respectively. The enzyme activity could be inhibited to 22-59% by 1 mM $Hg^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$ and $Al^{3+}$, and to 68% by 1 mM EDTA. It was also inhibited 40% by 2 mM xylitol and 35-45% by 0.05% soluble chitosan, glycol chitosan, and glycol chitin. This is the first report to reveal the inhibition effect of chitin derivatives on Gtf activity, which may be further applicable to develop gargles to overcome cavity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.759-766
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• 2008

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 $(GlcNAc)_{2-7}$.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.310-315
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• 2001

The uneven distribution of acidic and basic chitinases in different parts of rice seed, and also the characterization of hull-specific chitinases, are reported here. After extraction of chitinases from polished rice, bran, and rice hulls, the chitinases were separated into acidic and basic fractions, according to their behavior on an anion exchanger column. Both fractions from different parts of rice seed showed characteristic activity bands on SDS-PAGE that contained 0.01% glycol chitin. The basic chitinases from rice hulls were further purified using chitin affinity chromatography. The chitinase, specific to rice hulls (RHBC), was 88-fold purified with a 1.3% yield. RHBC has an apparent molecular weight of 22.2 kDa on SDS-PAGE. The optimal pH and temperature were 4.0 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively. With [$^3H$]chitin as a substrate, RHBC has $V_{max}$ of 13.51 mg/mg protein/hr and $K_m$ of 1.36 mg/ml. This enzyme was an endochitinase devoid of ${\beta}$-1,3-glucanase, lysozyme, and chitosanase activities.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.193-198
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• 2011

The chitinase-producing strain SC081 was isolated from Korean traditional soy sauce and identified as Bacillus atrophaeus based on a phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rDNA sequence and a phenotypic analysis. A gene encoding chitinase from B. atrophaeus SC081 was cloned in Escherichia coli and was named SCChi-1 (GQ360078). The SCChi-1 nucleotide sequences were composed of 1788 base pairs and 596 amino acids, which were 92.6, 89.6, 89.3, and 78.9% identical to those of Bacillus subtilis (ABG57262), Bacillus pumilus (ABI15082), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (ABO15008), and Bacillus licheniformis (ACF40833), respectively. A recombinant SCChi-1 containing a hexahistidine tag at the amino-terminus was constructed, overexpressed, and purified in E. coli to characterize SCChi-1. $H_6SCChi$-1 revealed a hydrolytic band on zymograms containing 0.1% glycol chitin and showed the highest lytic activity on colloidal chitin and acidic chitosan. The optimal temperature and pH for chitinolytic activity were $50^{\circ}C$ and pH 8.0, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.297-298
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• 2003

Chitin is a natural biopolymer that, with its derivative chitosan, has been represented as a biomaterial with considerable potential in wide ranging medical applications. But there are some limitations in using chitosan as attained, for instance, the problem of water solubility$^1$. In order to use chitosan in various applications (e.g. drug carrier), chemical modifications are often necessary$^2$. (omitted)

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.247-255
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• 2003

A bacterium, KJA-118 showing a strong chitinase activity, was isolated and identified as Bacillus cereus. The strain produced maximum level of chitinase, when grown aerobically at $30^{\circ}C$ for 4 days in basal broth containing 1% colloidal chitin in the initial pH adjusted to 6.0. Among various carbon sources such as crab shell powder, chitin powder, colloidal chitin, and R. solani mycelium, maximum chitinase activity was found in culture broth supplemented with R. solani mycelium. When KJA-118 was incubated with R. solani, the cell wall of the fungus was found to be completely destroyed. SDS-PAGE and active staining results revealed that KJA-118 produced three isoforms of chitinase with molecular weights of 68 kDa, 47 kDa, and 37 kDa. When the suspension of KJA-118 was treated to cucumber seedlings, reducing rate of damping-off caused by R. solani was about 28.1%.

• 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.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.65-69
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• 2000

Hen egg-white lysozyme was conjugated with 7~9 mers xyloglucan hydrolysates(MW-1,400) at 6$0^{\circ}C$ and 79% relative humidity for 3 days. SDS-PAGE showed that the conjugation between lysozyme and the oligosaccharide began from 1-day incubation, and three molecules of carbohydrate chains were attached to a protein molecule after 30day incubation. The enzymatic activity of lysozyme was totally conserved in the neoglycoprotein, when measured by using glycol chitin as substrate. Besides, the emulsifying properties of lysozyme were vastly improved by the conjugation with the oligosaccharide, in which emulsifying activity of the neoglycoprotein was five times higher than that of native one.

• 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.