Gastric and intestinal proteases resistance of chicken acidic chitinase nominates chitin-containing organisms for alternative whole edible diets for poultry.
Chitin, a polymer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc), serves as a key structural component of crustaceans, insects and fungi and is a polysaccharide second most abundant in nature. Although chitin-containing organism has been suggested as a source of novel Chicken Clia Kits animal feed, chitin has long been regarded as indigestible fiber in the animal body. More recently, we reported that the acidic chitinase (Chia) is the main glycosidase protease resistant rat gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and digest chitin in rat stomach. However, the physiological role of Chia in other animals including poultry still unknown. Here, we report that Chia can function as digestive enzymes that break down chitin-containing organism chicken GIT. Chia mRNA is mainly expressed in the glandular stomach tissue in normal chickens. We also showed that chicken Chia has chitinolytic strong activity at pH 2.0 and very resistant to proteolysis by pepsin and trypsin / chymotrypsin under conditions ...