Chitinases costs

Presently, the most promising raw material for commercial production of chitinase (in terms of cost per unit activity and ready availability to satisfy present and future demand) is soybean seeds. Table I shows a comparison of cost (based on the retail prices) for the production of chitinase from microbial sources by three commercial suppliers and from soybean seeds. The cost is very high for the commercially prepared enzyme. The method used to purify the soybean enzyme (33) has an average yield of 3.6 I.U./kg or 3600 I.U./metric ton soyEean seeds. The cost for producing 3600 I.U. chitinase from the three suppliers has been calculated and shown in Table I. The Sigma ana Calbiochem-Behring preparations contained the lowest specific activities. 

The precise cost of production for soybean chitinase is not known. However, we know the cost of soybean is about 230/metric ton. A rough estimate of the cost for producing 3600 I.U. of chitinase from soybean would be in the range of 60,000 - 80,000. With additional improvements in the methodology, one should be able to increase recovery and reduce even more the production cost. Furthermore, since only about 2% of the soybean protein is removed (as crude chitinase extract), all the soybean oil and the rest of the soybean meal can be sold, thus reducing the cost of the raw material and the overall production of the enzyme. 

Table 1. Comparison of production cost for chitinase from various commercial sources and from soybean seeds...

---