That the use of microorganisms and methods of new species degrade chitin-chitosan

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a microorganism having such characteristics as to efficiently decompose α-chitin having a strong crystal structure at a utilizable level, and to provide a degrading enzyme for the chitin, derived from the microorganism, and a gene encoding the enzyme.;SOLUTION: The new species of microorganisms decomposing chitin or chitosan is a new bacterium belonging to the genus Paenibacillus (accession number NITE P-310), or a variant thereof. The method for producing a decomposed product of a polysaccharide or a polysaccharide-containing material includes producing the decomposed product of the polysaccharide or the polysaccharide-containing material by using the microorganism or a culture supernatant thereof. The enzyme having the decomposing activities of the polysaccharide or the polysaccharide-containing material, the gene encoding the enzyme and the like are also provided. For example, a monosaccharide (e.g. N-acetylglucosamine and glucosamine) and an oligosaccharide (e.g. chitin oligosaccharide and chitosan oligosaccharide) are cited as the decomposed product of the polysaccharide or the polysaccharide-containing material.;COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT