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    Chitinase Activity on Amorphous Chitin Thin Films: A Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring and Atomic Force Microscopy Study

    Year: 2013

    Journal: Biomacromolecules, 2013, 14 (8), pp 2622–2628, 20131002

    Authors: Chao Wang 1, Joshua D. Kittle 1, Chen Qian 1, Maren Roman 2, and Alan R. Esker * 1

    Last authors: Alan R. Esker

    Organizations: †Department of Chemistry and ‡Department of Sustainable Biomaterials, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States

    Country: USA, US, United States, United States of America, America

    Chitinases are widely distributed in nature and have wide-ranging pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications. This work highlights a real-time and label-free method to assay Chitinase activity via a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The chitin substrate was prepared by spincoating a trimethylsilyl chitin solution onto a silica substrate, followed by regeneration to amorphous chitin (RChi). The QCM-D and AFM results clearly showed that the hydrolysis rate of RChi films increased as Chitinase (from Streptomyces griseus) concentrations increased, and the optimal temperature and pH for Chitinase activity were around 37 °C and 6–8, respectively. The Chitinase showed greater activity on chitin substrates, having a high degree of acetylation, than on chitosan substrates, having a low degree of acetylation.