Production and partial purification of antifungal chitinase from Bacillus cereus VITSD3

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The current work was designed to isolate and characterize chitin degrading bacteria. Among the 55 bacterial colonies isolated from 7 different soil samples, 4 isolates were capable of degrading chitinase, among which one strain VITSD3 was found to be potent. Based on the morphological, biochemical and molecular characterization of VITSD3 the isolate was confirmed as Bacillus cereus (Genbank accession number: KC961638), designated as Bacillus cereus VITSD3. The crude enzyme had a total activity of 220 U, precipitated with 44.8 U and 22.5 U for dialysed sample. The hydrolysed product NAG (N-Acetyl Glucosamine) from chitin was analysed by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC).The molecular weight of the chitinase was determined using SDS PAGE and found to be 55 kDa. The partially purified chitinase produced from Bacillus cereus VITSD3 showed antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus (18 mm), Aspergillus niger (6 mm) and Aspergillus flavus (15 mm). Hence the investigation suggests a potential benefit of partially purified chitinase extracted from Bacillus cereus VITSD3 which will serve as an excellent antifungal potential with therapeutic use.

Characterization of Extracellular Chitinase from Bacillus cereus SAHA 12.13 and Its Potency as a Biocontrol of Curvularia affinis

“…The existence and number of diverse bacteria that could produce chitinase make bacteria one of the most widely used organisms to produce chitinase. Some bacteria such as Bacillus cereus in the environment reported having chitinase activity [6]- [10]. Chitinase produced by bacteria plays an essential role in the decomposition of chitin.…”