Production of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine by submerged fermentation of the American cockroach’s (Periplaneta americana) Chitin

Salama, Mahmoud; Ibrahim, Nevin; Khaled, Amany Soliman; Abdul-AzizRadi, Magda Hassan

doi:10.21608/ajbs.2017.68636

Production of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine by submerged fermentation of the American cockroach’s (Periplaneta americana) Chitin

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain-Shams University

² Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain-Shams University

10.21608/ajbs.2017.68636

Abstract

N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (NAG) is a medical important molecule that linked linearly through β (1,4)– glycosidic linkages forming chitin. Chitin was isolated from the American cockroach’s dried exoskeletons and characterized by Infrared spectroscopy (IR), the data revealed that it was in α form with 108% degree of acetylation (DA). The isolated chitin in the colloidal form was used in submerged fermentation for NAG production using the chitinolytic entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae, AUMC2837which showed a great potentiality on chitin degradation and NAG production at starting pH rang 3-5. The maximum NAG production was estimated at initial pH value 4, where the fungus could produce 12.52±0.46 g/l NAG from 15 g/l colloidal chitin (approximately 83.46 % of the chitin degraded to NAG) after 96 hours of incubation. Such result highlighted Periplaneta Americana chitin to be a promising alternative source for NAG production. This is the first report on bio-production of NAG from American cockroach’s chitin by a native entomopathogenic fungus.

Keywords