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In order to elucidate the plant-microorganism relationship, we purified an ethylene-inducible, basic 30 KD endochitinase from bean leaves and studied its antifungal activity by a hyphal extension-inhibition assay. The purified chitinase was effective in the inhibition of hyphal growth of Aspergillus fumigatus, Botrytis cinerea. Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani, while microbial chitinases of Serratia marcescens and Streptomyces griceus, egg white lysozyme and papya protease didn´t affect hyphal growth of the fungi. The chitinase degraded the cell walls of Micrococcus lysodeikticus, suggesting the lysozyme activity of the chitinase. We discussed the implication of the bifunctional chitinase/lysozyme activities of the protein with hydrolysis of chitin in the rapidly extending hyphae of the fungi.
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