Chitin and its N-deacetylated derivative chitosan are two biological polymers that have found numerous applications in recent years, but their further deployment suffers from limitations in obtaining a defined structure of the polymers using traditional conversion methods. The disadvantages of the currently used industrial methods of chitosan manufacturing and the increasing demand for a broad range of novel chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) with a fully defined architecture increase interest in chitin and chitosan-modifying enzymes. Enzymes such as chitinases, chitosanases, chitin deacetylases, and recently discovered lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases had attracted considerable interest in recent years. These proteins are already useful tools toward the biotechnological transformation of chitin into chitosan and chitooligosaccharides, especially when a controlled non-degradative and well-defined process is required. This review describes traditional and novel enzymatic methods of modification of chitin and its derivatives. Recent advances in chitin processing, discovery of increasing number of new, well-characterized enzymes and development of genetic engineering methods result in rapid expansion of the field. Enzymatic modification of chitin and chitosan may soon become competitive to conventional conversion methods.

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Enzymatic Modifications of Chitin, Chitosan, and Chitooligosaccharides.

Microbial and viral chitinases: Attractive biopesticides for integrated pest management.

Marine bacterial chitinase as sources of energy, eco-friendly agent, and industrial biocatalyst.

The marine environment is one of the most important sources of bioactive compounds in the world. Marine microbial communities from marine environments secrete variety enzymes based on their habitat and their ecological roles. They are considered important ecological components in marine environments due to their performance in biogeochemical processes. Marine microbial enzymes including protease, lipase, collagenase, agarase, cellulose and Tother enzymes are important in different industrial due to their properties and applications. The biochemical diversity of marine microbial makes them reasonable sources of a wide variety of enzymes for use in different industrial including food, medicine and other biotechnological systems. Therefore, marine microbial enzymes preparations due to a special applications and functions in the biotechnology projects, also these can suggestion novel catalysts of biological and biochemical reactions with unique properties and functions. In this review, we focus on microbial enzymes from marine derived and their biochemical significance and their increasing importance in biotechnology.

Marine microbes as a valuable resource for brand new industrial biocatalysts

Purification, physicochemical and thermodynamic studies of antifungal chitinase with production of bioactive chitosan-oligosaccharide from newly isolated Aspergillus griseoaurantiacus KX010988.

Hanan M. Abd-Elnabey

Papers

Purification, characterization and antimicrobial activity of chitinase from marine-derived Aspergillus terreus