Response surface bioprocess provenance for enhanced chitinase production by Thermomyces dupontii for translation of chitinous waste to short-chain chitooligosaccharides

Chitinase, a chitin degrading glycosyl hydrolase, has received a great deal of interest because of the wide range of potential uses in the bio-based industries. A large output of the enzyme at a reasonable manufacturing cost is essential for its sustainable product oriented applications. Thermomyces dupontii ITCC 9104 has been identified as a thermophilic fungal chitinase producer with maximum chitinase production (168.30 ± 0.86 Ul −1 ). Nutritional components have been considered to exert profound effect on enzyme production. Derivation of optimum levels of five nutritional components as independent variables under submerged fermentation was carried out by employing central composite design resulted into 1.70 fold enhancement in the extracellular chitinase titres. The level of factors and design has been further validated by linear regression as well. Thin layer chromatographic analysis has revealed that chitinase derived from T. dupontii efficiently hydrolyzes colloidal chitin into a mixture of short-chain chitooligosaccharides and glucosamine. The findings presented here provided evidence that the Desert Ecosystem of Rajasthan could be a rich source for the exploration and prospecting of thermophilic chitinase producing microbial strains. The optimization strategies have opened up perspectives for better production of chitooligosaccharides aimed at the clean-up of coastal chitin pollution with generation of ‘products of value’ in an environmental friendly, economical and sustainable manner.