Optimizing Chitin Depolymerization by Lysozyme to Long-Chain Oligosaccharides
Arnaud Masselin, Antoine Rousseau, Stéphanie Pradeau, Laure Fort, Rodolphe Gueret, Laurine Buon, Sylvie Armand, Sylvain Cottaz, Luc Choisnard, Sébastien Fort
Abstract
Chitin oligosaccharides (COs) hold high promise as organic fertilizers in the ongoing agro-ecological transition. Short- and long-chain COs can contribute to the establishment of symbiotic associations between plants and microorganisms, facilitating the uptake of soil nutrients by host plants. Long-chain COs trigger plant innate immunity. A fine investigation of these different signaling pathways requires improving the access to high-purity COs. Here, we used the response surface methodology to optimize the production of COs by enzymatic hydrolysis of water-soluble chitin (WSC) with hen egg-white lysozyme. The influence of WSC concentration, its acetylation degree, and the reaction time course were modelled using a Box-Behnken design. Under optimized conditions, water-soluble COs up to the nonasaccharide were formed in 51% yield and purified to homogeneity. This straightforward approach opens new avenues to determine the complex roles of COs in plants.