Background
N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc), possesses many specific bioactivities and has been widely used in biomedical, food, and chemical industries. Alternatively, enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin into GlcNAc using chitinolytic enzymes was shown to be a more attractive approach in recent years, because of the green process and the excellent bioactivity of product. Therefore, it is of economic and environmental value to realize the efficient production of GlcNAc from abundant chitin resources.
Results
In this study, a gene encoding β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, designated NAGaseA, was cloned from Chitinibacter sp. GC72 and subsequently functional expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). NAGaseA contains a glycoside hydrolase family 20 catalytic domain that shows low identity with the corresponding domain of the well-characterized NAGases. The recombinant NAGaseA had a molecular mass of 92 kDa. Biochemical characterization of the purified NAGaseA revealed that the optimal reaction condition was at 40°C and pH 6.5, and exhibited great pH stability in the range of pH 6.5–9.5. The Vmax, Km, Kcat, and Kcat/Km of NAGaseA toward pNP-GlcNAc were 3333.33 µmol min−1 L−1, 39.99 µM, 4667.07 s−1, and 116.71 mL µmol −1 s−1, respectively. Analysis of the hydrolysis products of N-acetyl chitinoligosaccharides (N-Acetyl COSs) indicated that NAGaseA capable of converting N-Acetyl COSs((GlcNAc)2–(GlcNAc)6) into GlcNAc with hydrolysis ability order: (GlcNAc)2 > (GlcNAc)3 > (GlcNAc)4 > (GlcNAc)5 > (GlcNAc)6. Moreover, NAGaseA could generate (GlcNAc)3–(GlcNAc)6 from (GlcNAc)2–(GlcNAc)5, respectively. These results showed that NAGaseA is a multi-functional NAGase with transglycosylation activity. In addition, significantly synergistic action was observed between NAGaseA and other sources of chitinases during hydrolysis of colloid chitin. Finally, 0.759 g/L, 0.481 g/L and 0.986 g/L of GlcNAc with purity of 96% were obtained using different chitinase combinations, resulting in 1.6-2.69 fold increase, respectively.
Conclusions
The hydrolytic properties and good environmental adaptions indicate that NAGaseA has great potential in the bioconversion of chitin waste and behaved as an excellent candidate in GlcNAc producing.