Description

The book deals with chitanse production by actinomycetes by solid state fermentation. Actinomycetes have been widely exploited group of microorganisms in the production of secondary metabolites and enzymes of commercial importance. Chitinases have received attention as they have been widely used as biocontrol agents for suppression of pathogenic fungi, mosquito control, mycolytic enzyme preparation, fungal protoplast technology, preparation of chito-oligosaccharides, glucosamine, and, cytochemical localization of chitin/chitosan using chitinase-chitosanase-gold complexes, production of single-cell protein, estimation of fungal biomass, morphogenesis, medical application, control of plant pathogenic fungi and degradation of fish wastes, etc. Solid state fermentation (SSF) holds tremendous potential for the production of chitinases specially in those processes where the crude fermented products may be used directly as the enzyme source. SSF could be the system of choice for microbial enrichment of agriculture residues and the production of enzymes and other extracellular metabolites. The book will be of great value for researchers as well as for people of industry.