Production and partial characterization of chitinase from a halotolerant Planococcus rifitoensis strain M2-26

This paper is the first to investigate the production and partial characterization of the chitinase enzyme from a moderately halophilic bacterium Planococcus rifitoensis strain M2-26, earlier isolated from a shallow salt lake in Tunisia. The impact of salt, salinity concentration, pH, carbon and nitrogen sources on chitinase production and activity have been determined. This is the first report on a high salt-tolerant chitinase from P. rifitoensis, since it was active at high salinity (from 5 to 30% NaCl) as well as in the absence of salt. This enzyme showed optimal activity at 70 C and retained up to 82 and 66% of its original activity at 80 or 90 C, respectively. The activity of the enzyme was also shown over a wide pH range (from 5 to 11). For characterization of the enzyme activity, the chitinase secreted in the culture supernatant was partially purified. The preliminary study of the concentrated dialysed supernatant on native PAGE showed at least three
chitinases produced by strain M2-26, with highest activity approximately at 65 kDa. Thus, the thermo-tolerant and high salt-tolerant chitinases produced by P. rifitoensis strain M2-26 could be useful for application in diverse areas such as biotechnology and agro-industry.