Production and characterization of chitinase from Vibrio species, a head waste of shrimp Metapenaeus dobsonii (Miers, 1878) and chitin of Sepiella inermis Orbigny, 1848

The chitin is extracted from the cuttlebone of S. inermis and the mineral contents are predictable. The structure and degree of deacetylation of extracted cuttlebone chitin is dogged through Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The extracted cuttlebone chitin is used as the substrate for the production of chitinase from Vibrio sp. The extra cellular proteins are concentrated by ammonium sulphate precipitation, dialysed and then purified by using gel (sephadex G-100) chromatography. Among the 40 fractions, only two fractions (active fractions) showed maximum absorbance at 280 nm, which are pooled, dialysed and free-dried. The enzyme activity (0.104 μmoles/ml) and molecular weight (50 - 60 kDa) of purified chitinase is also determined through SDS- PAGE. The optimal condition for chitinase activity is pH between 6.0 - 6.5 and 45℃.