Enzymatic production of N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides by crude enzyme derived from Paenibacillus illioisensis KJA-424

Production of N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides is important to the food, agriculture and biotechnology sectors, where they can be employed as both plant growth promoters and agents of biocontrol for plant pathogens. N-Acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides were produced from colloidal chitin by use of crude enzyme obtained from Paenibacillus illinoisensis KJA-424. The production rate of GlcNAc increased continuously during incubation, while that of GlcNAc oligomers declined. The maximum production of GlcNAc was 1.71 mg mL−1 (yield of 62.2%) after 24 h of incubation. At the same time chitobiose [(GlcNAc)2], chitotriose [(GlcNAc)3], chitoheptose [(GlcNAc)7] and chitooctose [(GlcNAc)8] were 0.13 (yield of 4.9%), 0.03 (yield of 1.2%), 0.01 (yield of 4.1%) and 0.24 mg mL−1 (yield of 9.6%), respectively. The rate of total N-acetyl chitooligosaccharide production decreased by over 44% and 87% after 2 and 24 h of incubation, respectively. The multi-chitinolytic enzyme complex produced by Paenibacillus illinoisensis KJA-424 is effective in the production of GlcNAc and N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides, facilitating its potential use in industrial applications.