Isolation of chitin deacetylase-producing microorganisms from riverside soils of Xiangjiang of China

Abstract:

[Objective] Chitin deacetylase is a key enzyme in the conversion of natural chitin into chitosan, which can be commercially used. The aim of this work is to screen a new strain with high capacity for producing chitin deacetylase. [Methods] Chitin deacetylase producing strains from soils of Xiangjiang riverside in Changsha area were preliminarily screened with chitin as only source of carbon by color reaction of 4'-nitroacetanilide, and further screened by enzyme activity analysis; Identification of strains was analyzed by morphological and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence. [Results] We isolated 117 starins from soils of Xiangjiang riverside, thirty strains had the potential producing chitin deacetylase ability, and among which, four potential strains had the most high capacities, and validation of enzyme activity analysis suggested that strain A1 had the highest capacity for producing chitin deacetylase, the extracellular enzyme activity reached 13.21 U/mL. On the basis of morphological and ITS sequence identification, strain A1 was preliminarily identified as Fusarium proliferatum. [Conclusion] We obtained a F. proliferatum strain isolated from soils of Xiangjiang riverside with high capacity for producing chitin deacetylase.