Abstract
The structural biopolymer chitin (generally defined as a homopolymer of β-1–4 linked N-acetyl-D-glucosamine) has recently gained a wider audience do to academic and industrial interests in seeking applications of shell fisheries wastes for medical, water purification and agricultural uses (Muzzarelli, 1977; Mien and Rodriguez-Kabana,1982; Cabib, 1987). Depolymerases have a central role in each of these studies, whether from the perspective of product preservation or from the point of view of targeted enzymatic attack. Berger and Reynolds (1958) described the chitinase of Streptomyces griseus as an endolytic chitinase having the definitive property of releasing the disaccharide N,N’-diacetylchitobiose (chitobiose) as the ultimate end product. Chitobiase then hydrolyzes one mole of chitobiose producing two moles of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine.
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© 1989 Plenum Press, New York
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Smucker, R.A., Warnes, C.E. (1989). Differential Mode of Chitinase Hydrolysis of Chitin and Chitan. In: O’Rear, C.E., Llewellyn, G.C. (eds) Biodeterioration Research 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5670-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5670-7_8
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