A Potent Chitinolytic Activity of Marine Actinomycete sp. and Enzymatic Production of Chitooligosaccharides

locally isolated Marine Streptomyces sp. were screened for chitinolytic activity on agar plates containing colloidal chitin. The strain showed the highest activity on a colloidal chitin screening agar plate and thin- layer chromatography was identified as a strain of Streptomyces that may be designated Streptomyces champavatii AZ-1due to the production of champamycin A, B and champavatin. The strain AZ-1 produced a multi-chitinolytic enzyme complex, extracellular and cell bound activities on submerged and solid-state fermentation after 144, 168 h incubation times at 37°C. Chitinases secreted in the culture supernatant were partially purified. The optimal temperature and pH of the enzymes were 37°C and pH 5, 5.5, respectively. Production of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides is important to biotechnology sectors, facilitating its potential use in medical application as antitumor. N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides were produced from colloidal chitin by use of crude enzyme obtained from St. champvatii AZ-1that produced a good yield of chitopentaose (Glc-NAc) and chitohexaose (GlcNAc)