TITLE Chitinase activity of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam var. Tainong 57)
AUTHOR Wen-Chi Hou
Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China
Ying-Chou Chen
Department of Bioengineering, Tatung Institute of Technology, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China
Yaw-Huei Lin
Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China
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ABSTRACT Chitinase activity was detected in the crude extracts of different parts of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam var. Tainong 57) using commercial deacetyl glycol chitin as a substrate. The activity of chitinase in crude extracts, which was expressed as units/g fresh weight, was arranged in decending order of leaves > sprouts > peels of storage roots > peeled storage roots. Under field conditions, the chitinase activity of leaves was higher than vines. The chitinase activity of insect-bitten leaves was higher than that of the controls, and the chitinase activity of vines attached to insect-bitten leaves was also higher than that of vines attached to intact leaves. The molecular weight of main chitinase determined by activity staining was about 16 kDa. The optimum pH was 5.0 and the optimum temperature of chitinase activity was 25°C.
KEYWORD Chitinase; Defense against pests; Ipomoea batatas;
ARTICLE INFO Botanical Bulletin of Academia Sinica, Volume 39 Number 2 April 1998, page 93-97, 5 pages
PUBLISHER Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China