Two chitinases, Chi I and Chi II, were purified from the culture supernatant of Bacillus cereus TKU027 with shrimp head powder (SHP) as the sole carbon/nitrogen source. The molecular masses of Chi I and Chi II determined using SDS–PAGE were approximately 65 kDa and 63 kDa, respectively. Chi I toward various surfactants showed high stability, such as SDS, Tween 20, Tween 40 and Triton X-100, and these surfactants were stimulator of Chi I chitinase activity. Concomitant with the production of Chi I and Chi II, chitin oligosaccharides were also observed in the culture supernatant, including chitobiose, chitotriose, chitotetrose and chitopentose at concentrations of 0.44 mg/mL, 0.08 mg/mL, 0.09 mg/mL and 0.43 mg/mL, respectively. Chitosan with 60% deacetylation was degraded by TKU027 crude enzyme to prepare chitooligosaccharides. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of the enzymatic hydrolyzates indicated that the products were mainly chitooligosaccharides with degree of polymerization (DP) in the 4–9 range.
