Current Microbiology, Vol.77, No.12, 3927-3936, 2020
Quantification of Extracellular Proteases and Chitinases from Marine Bacteria
A total of 92 marine bacteria belonging toPseudomonas,Pseudoalteromonas,Psychrobacter,andShewanellawere first screened for their proteolytic activity. In total, fourPseudomonasstrains belonging toPs. fluorescens,Ps. fragi,Ps. gessardii,andPs. marginalis; 14Pseudoalteromonasstrains belonging toPsa. arctica, Psa. carrageenovora, Psa. elyakovii, Psa. issachenkonii, Psa. rubra, Psa. translucida,andPsa. tunicata; and twoShewanellastrains belonging toS. balticaandS. putrefacienswere identified to have a weak to high proteolytic activity (from 478 to 4445 mU/mg trypsin equivalent) against skim milk casein as protein source. Further chitinolytic activity screening based on these 20 proteolytic strains using colloidal chitin yielded five positive strains which were tested against three different chitin substrates in order to determine the various types of chitinases. Among the strains that can produce both proteases and chitinases,Psa. rubraDSM 6842(T)expressed not only the highest proteolytic activity (2558 mU/mg trypsin equivalent) but also the highest activity of exochitinases, specifically, beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase (6.33 mU/10(7) cfu) as well. We anticipate that this strain can be innovatively applied to the valorization of marine crustaceans side streams.