A Novel Chitinolytic Bacterial Strain: Characterization of an Extracellular Chitinase

Abstract

Based on chitinolytic enzyme production, the most potent isolate named as Enterobacter cowanii CH-02 was selected and identified as a novel chitinolytic enzyme producing bacterium. The effects of media composition on bacterial cell growth and chitinase production were also studied. The maximum conditions for chitinase production were obtained at 37°C and pH 8.0 in the presence of colloidal chitin in sea water. E. cowanii CH-02 produced 0.12 U/mg of protein in batch fermentation after 24 h of incubation at 37°C using colloidal chitin in culture medium. The molecular weight of chitinolytic enzyme was estimated to be 52-kDa by SDS-PAGE which was observed in silver staining. To the best of our knowledge, we first report the biochemical function of chitinolytic enzyme from E. cowanii strain.