Chitinases production: A robust enzyme and its industrial applications

Abstract

In nature, distinct number of renewable biopolymers are available which exist as chief starting material for various bioprocesses; chitin being one of them that is degraded by the chitinases. Chitinases belong to the family of hydrolytic enzymes that hydrolyses chitin and it is also used in various industries for waste management, recovery of tannase, as biocontrol agent, chitooligosaccharides and GlcNAc production, etc. In the current paper, various chitinases sources are discussed available worldwide such as bacteria, fungal, plants, mammals, etc. At laboratory scale, purification and characterisation of various chitinases have been performed but several difficulties arise at industrial scale due to expensive purification steps. This review summarises the developments in production, extraction, purification and various applications of chitinases.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Chitinases
• glycosyl hydrolase
• fermentation
• β-1,4 glycosidic bonds
• N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc)

Acknowledgement

The authors do not acknowledge anyone for the present work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.