In the present work, a chitosanase was induced from a squid pen
powder-containing Bacillus cereus TKU031 medium, and the addition of 0.05 %
(w/v) boric acid or sodium tetraborate resulted in 195 and 177 % enhancement,
respectively, in TKU031 chitosanase production. The purified TKU031 chitosanase
exhibited optimum activity at pH 5 and 50 C and was stable at pH 5–9 and50 C.
The TKU031 chitosanase that was used for chitooligomers preparation was studied.
The enzyme products revealed various chitooligomers with different degrees of
polymerisation from 3 to 8, as determined by a MALDI-TOF–mass spectrometer,
confirming the endo-type nature of the TKU031 chitosanase.