Diet of the crab-eating monkey (Macaca fascicularis) consists of both plants and animals, including chitin-containing organisms such as crabs and insects. This omnivorous monkey has a high expression of acidic chitinase (CHIA) in the stomach and here, we report on its enzymatic properties under different conditions. When we compared with Mus musculus CHIA (Mm-CHIA), Macaca fascicularis CHIA (Mf-CHIA) exhibits higher chitinolytic activity at broad pH (1.0-7.0) and temperature (30-70 ℃) range. Interestingly, at its optimum pH (5.0), Mf-CHIA showed the highest activity at 65 °C while maintaining it at robust levels between 50 and 70 °C. The degradation efficiency of Mf-CHIA was superior to Mm-CHIA toward both polymeric chitin as well as an artificial chromogenic substrate. Our results show that unique features of Mf-CHIA including its thermostability warrant the nomination of this enzyme for potential agricultural and biomedical applications.

Bioinova Ltd Videnska 1083 Prague 142 20 Czech Republic

Department of Chemistry and Life Science Kogakuin University Hachioji Tokyo 192 0015 Japan

Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostics Department of Clinical Biochemistry Hematology and Immunology Homolka Hospital Roentgenova 37 2 Prague 150 00 Czech Republic

Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Chiyoda ku Koujimachi Tokyo 102 0083 Japan

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