PURIFICATION OF 3 ACIDIC CHITINASES FROM YAM AERIAL TUBER - APPLICATION OF QUATERNARY AMMONIUM ION DETERGENT FOR THE SEPARATION OF YAM CHITINASE FROM VISCOUS TISSUE-EXTRACT

Three inherent acidic chitinases were purified from yam aerial tuber b y the application of quaternary ammonium ion detergent, For removal of the mucilage in the crude extract of aerial tuber, the effects of var ious quaternary ammonium ion detergent were compared. Cetylpyridinium chloride effectively removed the mucilage and this method proved to pr ovide high recovery of chitinase activity. Three acidic chitinase isof orms were purified by anion-exchange chromatography, gel-filtration ch romatography, and anion-exchange HPLC from the supernatant of cetylpyr idinium chloride treatment. The three purified acidic chitinases had t he molecular masses of 23, 25, and 31 kDa and proved to be class III, class III, and class I chitinases, respectively, by the comparison of tryptic peptide maps and amino acid compositions.