Production of n-acetylglucosamine from shrimp shells’ chitin using intracellular chitinase from mucor circinelloides

Abstract

Chitin is a natural biopolymer found in shrimp shells and can be processed into N-acetylglucosamine which is extensively used as a dietary supplement to treat osteoarthritis, back pain and knee pain. This research was conducted to determine the optimum pH, temperature, substrate concentration and incubation period to produce N-acetylglucosamine using crude and semi pure intracellular chitinase extracted from Mucor circinelloides. Chitinase activity was measured to determine optimum pH and temperature by using various pHs (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) and temperatures (30oC, 40oC, 50oC, 60oC, 70oC and 80oC). Different substrate concentrations (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0%) and incubation periods (2, 4, 6 and 24 hrs) were used to determine the optimum condition to produce N-acetylglucosamine. Results showed that crude intracellular chitinase had an optimum pH of 5 with chitinase activity of 4.16±0.07 U/mL and optimum temperature of 60oC with chitinase activity of 4.22±0.07 U/mL. The optimum substrate concentration obtained was 0.5% and the optimum incubation period obtained was 6 hrs with about 961.67±9.13 ppm N-acetylglucosamine produced. Semi pure intracellular chitinase had an optimum pH of 4 with chitinase activity of 4.75±0.09 U/mL and optimum temperature of 50oC with chitinase activity of 5.03±0.08 U/mL. The optimum substrate concentration obtained was 1.5% and the optimum incubation period obtained was 4 hrs with about 1150.56±12.55 ppm N-acetylglucosamine produced.