Abstract—Electrospun PAN nanofibres (7.5 wt %) was used for immobilization of chitosan degrading enzyme from Aspergillus sp. Glutaraldehyde (10%) was used as cross linking agent for enzyme immobilization. Protein loading was quantitative after treatment (30 minutes) with glutaraldehyde and activity retention of the immobilized enzyme was 70%. Immobilization conditions and characterization of the immobilized enzymes were carried out. Glucosamine from different chitosan substrates using immobilized enzyme was produced. Yield of glucosamine from crab shell and shrimp shell chitosan was as high as 70% and 40% respectively by immobilized enzyme as compared to free enzyme. Immobilization of chitosanase improved its thermal stability, storage stability and could be used multiple times with minor loss in activity.

Index Terms—Chitosanase, Glucosamine, Immobilization, Nanofibres, PAN.

S. Sinha is Scientist with Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, Delhi-16, India (e-mail: sinha738@gmail.com).
R. Kumar is a post graduate student with Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, Delhi-16, India
S. Dhakate is senior scientist with the Physics and Engineering of Carbon, Division of Materials Physics and Engineering, National Physical Laboratory, CSIR, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi-110012 (India).
S. Chand is Professor with the Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, Delhi-16, India (Tel: +91-26591004, fax: +91-11-26582282, e-mail address: subhashc@dbeb.iitd.ac.in, subhashc46@hotmail.com

Cite: Sujata Sinha, Rohit Kumar, Sanjay R Dhakate, and Subhash Chand, "Chitosanase Linked PAN Nanofibres for Enzymatic Production of Glucosamine," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 153-158, 2011.