Distribution of Chitinases in Rice (Oryza sativa L)Seed and Characterization of a Hull-Specific Chitinase

The uneven distribution of acidic and basic chitinases in different parts of rice seed, and also the characterization of hull-specific chitinases, are reported here. After extraction of chitinases from polished rice, bran, and rice hulls, the chitinases were separated into acidic and basic fractions, according to their behavior on an anion exchanger column. Both fractions from different parts of rice seed showed characteristic activity bands on SDS-PAGE that contained 0.01% glycol chitin. The basic chitinases from rice hulls were further purified using chitin affinity chromatography. The chitinase, specific to rice hulls (RHBC), was 88-fold purified with a 1.3% yield. RHBC has an apparent molecular weight of 22.2 kDa on SDS-PAGE. The optimal pH and temperature were 4.0 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively. With [$^3H$]chitin as a substrate, RHBC has $V_{max}$ of 13.51 mg/mg protein/hr and $K_m$ of 1.36 mg/ml. This enzyme was an endochitinase devoid of ${\beta}$-1,3-glucanase, lysozyme, and chitosanase activities.