Kinetics of chitinase production. II. Relationship between bacterial growth, chitin hydrolysis and enzyme synthesis.

A comprehensive model for chitinase production during growth of Serratia marcescens QMB 1466 on chitin was developed taking into account the rate of chitin hydrolysis in order to estimate the rate of bacterial growth. In relating growth with enzyme synthesis the total enzyme concentration was used as the sum of the enzyme present in the bulk of the fermentation broth and the enzyme adsorbed on the chitin particles. The equations constituting the proposed model were fitted to the experimental results from both continuous and batch fermentation to obtain parameters describing substrate yield, metabolic maintenance, and enzyme yields.