Cooperative degradation of chitin by extracellular and cell surface-expressed chitinases from Paenibacillus sp. strain FPU-7.

ABSTRACT: Chitin, a major component of fungal cell walls and invertebrate cuticles, is an exceedingly abundant polysaccharide, ranking next to cellulose. Industrial demand for chitin and its degradation products as raw materials for fine chemical products is increasing. A bacterium with high chitin-decomposing activity, Paenibacillus sp. strain FPU-7, was isolated from soil by using a screening medium containing α-chitin powder. Although FPU-7 secreted several extracellular chitinases and thoroughly digested the powder, the extracellular fluid alone broke them down incompletely. Based on expression cloning and phylogenetic analysis, at least seven family 18 chitinase genes were found in the FPU-7 genome. Interestingly, the product of only one gene (chiW) was identified as possessing three S-layer ho

SUBMITTER: Itoh T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3837743 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature