Effect of Metal Ions, Chemical Agents, and Organic Solvent on Bacillus Sp.R2 Chitinase Activity

Bacillus sp. R2purified chitinase was subjected to the effect of metal ions, chemical agents, and organic solvent on its activity, the results showed that K+, Mn2+, Na+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ stimulated chitinase activity by 2,4,7,15 and 21% respectively whereas Cu2+, Fe2+, Zn2+, Ag+ and Hg2+ inhibited the enzyme. 10 mM β-mercaptoethanol and EDTA decreased the activity by 38.7 and 78.4% respectively whereas 1% SDS inactivated the enzyme completely, also 1 mM galactose, glucose and N-acetyl glucosamine inactivated the enzyme by about 14.4, 25.2 and 38.7% respectively ethanol, acetone and isopropanol inhibited about 30% of chitinase activity however full or nearly full inhibition was observed with chloroform diethylether and ethylacetate. Furthermore the chitinase shelf life was 30 day at -20C and survived 4 freezing and thawing with lost of about 30% of its original activity. This is the first contribution about marine chitinase characterization study from novel gram variable Bacillus isolated from the Red sea.