Chitinolytic enzymes: an exploration

Chitin and chitinolytic enzymes are gaining importance for their biotechnol ogical applications. Particularly, chitinases are used in agriculture to co ntrol plant pathogens. Chitinases and chitooligomers produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin can also be used in human health care. The success in employing chitinases for different aspects depends on the supply of highly active preparations at reasonable cost. Therefore, the understanding of bio chemistry and genetics of chitinolytic enzymes, their phylogenetic relation ships and methods of estimation will make them more useful in a variety of processes in near future. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserve d.