Biomassa e extração de quitina e quitosana a partir de isolados de Cunninghamella sp.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomass production of nine Cunninghamella sp. isolates as well as by the reference strain Cunninghamella elegans (CBMAI 0843) and establish the chitin and chitosan production capacity by these strains. For most of the tested strains, the highest growth period was within 48 hours of cultivation, although the UFT Ce08 isolate showed the highest amount of biomass, with 20.17 g L-1. Chitin yields were between 15.64 to 30.33% and chitosan yields were between 0.94 to 7.43%. The UFT Ce11 strain presented the best chitin quantity and UFT Ce09 strain, even with the second smallest biomass quantity, had the best chitosan yield. This means that seven isolated strains in this study showed higher chitosan yield compared to the reference strain. The degree of deacetylation was 83.7% for the chitosan obtained from the UFT Ce09 isolate and 80.5% for the chitosan obtained from the reference strain. The chitosan molecular weight for the UFT Ce09 isolate and the reference strain were 43.031 g mol-1 and 19.215 g mol-1, respectively. The infrared spectroscopy presented bands with wavelengths and functional groups coincident to the literature and to the commercial chitosan. The fungal chitosan of this study showed properties that confirm its quality and characteristics of biotechnological and commercial interest