• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.157-167
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• 2000

A thermostable chitosanase gene from the isolated strain, Bacillus sp. CK4, was cloned, and its complete DNA sequence was determined. The thermostable chitosanase gene was composed of an 822-bp open reading frame which encodes a protein of 242 amino acids and a signal peptide corresponding to a 30 kDa enzyme in size. The deduced amino acid sequence of the chitosanase from Bacillus sp. CK4 exhibits 76.6%, 15.3%, and 14.2% similarities to those from Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus ehemensis, and Bacillus circulans, respectively. C-terminal homology analysis shows that Bacillus sp. CK4 belongs to the Cluster III group with Bacillus subtilis. The size of the gene was similar to that of a mesophile, Bacillus subtilis showing a higher preference for codons ending in G or C. The functional importance of a conserved region in a novel chitosanase from Bacillus sp. CK4 was investigated. Each of the three carboxylic amino acid residues were changed to E50D/Q, E62D/Q, and D66N/E by site-directed mutagenesis. The D66N/E mutants enzymes had remarkably decreased kinetic parameters such as $V_{max}$ and k$\sub$cat/, indicating that the Asp-66 residue was essential for catalysis. The thermostable chitosanase contains three cysteine residues at position 49, 72, and 211. Titration of the Cys residues with DTNB showed that none of them were involved in disulfide bond. The C49S and C72S mutant enzymes were as stable to thermal inactivation and denaturating agents as the wild-type enzyme. However the half-life of the C211S mutant enzyme was less than 60 min at 80$^{\circ}C$, while that of the wild type enzyme was about 90 min. Moreover, the residual activity of C211S was substantially decreased by 8 M urea, and fully lost catalytic activity by 40% ethanol. These results show that the substitution of Cys with Ser at position 211 seems to affect the conformational stability of the chitosanase.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.631-636
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• 1999

The thermostable endo-chitosanase gene from the isolated strain Bacillus sp. KFB-C108 was identified on the basis of a phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, and was cloned into plasmid pUCl8 using E. coli $DH5\alpha$ as the host strain. Positive clones carrying recombinant plasmids (pKCHO I and pKCHO II) containing chitosanase activity were selected using the direct activity staining method. Detailed physical maps showed the two plasmid inserts were identical except that the KCHO II insert (2.6 kb) was 1.8 kb smaller than that of the KCHO I. The recombinant plasmids were analyzed to determine the essential region for chitosanase activity, and a 1.3-kb fragment (KCHO-6) was subcloned into pTrc99A using the EcoRI and BamHI sites to construct pTrc99A/KCHO-6(pTrEB13). The resulting plasmid exerted high chitosanase activity upon transformation of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}cells$, overproducing about 20 times more in the cloned cells than in the wild-type cells. The cloned chitosanase protein exhibited the same molecular weight and catalytic activity similar to those of Bacillus sp. KFB-C108. The cloned enzyme was an endo-type that produced a chitosan tetramer as the major reaction product; however, it produced no monomers or dimers.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2006

Bacillus subtilis strain with highly active chitosanase was isolated from the intestine of Sebastiscus marmoratus (scorpion fish). It was named as Bacillus subtilis CH1 by morphological, biochemical and 165 rRNA gene analysis. The optimal conditions for chitosanase production were investigated. The optimum carbon and nitrogen sources for Bacillus stibtilis CH1 were 2% starch and 1% yeast extract respectively. Unlike other chitosanases, the expression of this chitosanase was not induced or slightly induced with chitosan. The chitosanase secreted into the medium were concentrated with ammonium sulfate precipitation and purified by gel permeation chromatography. The molecular weight of purified chitosanase was 30 kDa. The optimum pH and temperature of purified chitosanase were 5.5 and $60^{\circ}C$ respectively. The purified chitosanase was continuously thermostable at $40^{\circ}C$ and showed stable activity between pH 6.0 and 8.0. Chitosanase activity of Bacillus subtilis CH1 under optimum condition was 4.1 units/ml.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1021-1025
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• 2011

A Bacillus subtilis strain was isolated from the intestine of Sebastiscus marmoratus (scorpion fish) that was identified as Bacillus subtilis CH2 by morphological, biochemical, and genetic analyses. The chitosanase of Bacillus subtilis CH2 was best induced by fructose and not induced with chitosan, unlike other chitosanases. The strain was incubated in LB broth, and the chitosanase secreted into the medium was concentrated with ammonium sulfate precipitation and purified by gel permeation chromatography. The molecular mass of the purified chitosanase was detected as 29 kDa. The optimum pH and temperature of the purified chitosanase were 5.5 and $60^{\circ}C$, respectively. The purified chitosanase was continuously thermostable at $40^{\circ}C$. The specific acitivity of the purified chitosanase was 161 units/mg. The N-terminal amino acid sequence was analyzed for future study.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.449-454
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• 1998

A thennostable chitosanase was purified from Bacillus sp. KFB-C108, by fractionation of 30 to 70% saturation with ammonium sulfate, DEAE-Toyopearl chromatography, Butyl-Toyopearl chromatography, and TSK-Gel HW-55F gel filtration. The purified enzyme showed a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the molecular weight was estimated to be 48 kDa. The enzyme degraded soluble chitosan and colloidal chitosan, but did not degrade glycol chitosan, chitin, and the other compounds investigated. There was no effect on the chitosanase activity by treatment with chelating agents, alkylating agents, and various metals investigated, and only cobalt ions inhibited the activity. Optimum temperature and pH were $55^{\circ}C$ and 6.5, respectively. The enzyme was stable after heat treatment at $80^{\circ}C$ for 10 min or $70^{\circ}C$ for 30 min and fairly stable in several organic solvents as well. Chitosan was hydrolyzed to $(GlcN)_4$as a major product by incubation with the enzyme.