Table 3.
Chitinase activity of protists collected from the anterior and posterior gut of Coptotermes formosanus.
| Chitinase activity (U/g ± SD, n = 3) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Substrate | Anterior | Posterior | p value |
| pNP-(GlcNAc) | 5.16 ± 0.40 | 12.8 ± 0.56 | < 0.006 |
| pNP-(GlcNAc)2 | 0.62 ± 0.01 | 0.88 ± 0.04 | < 0.022 |
| pNP-(GlcNAc)3 | 0.33 ± 0.02 | 0.75 ± 0.06 | < 0.011 |
Every substrate was assayed three times. The activity of posterior fraction was significantly higher than that of the anterior for all the tested substrates (Welch’s t-test). Activity unit was defined as micromoles of the liberated p-nitorophenol per minute per microgram of the extracted protein. Chitinase substrate, 4-nitrophenyl N-acetyl-β-D-glucosamide, 4-nitrophenyl N,N′-diacetyl-β-D-chitobioside and 4-nitrophenyl β-D-N,N′,N″-triacetylchitotriose are shown as pNP-GlcNAc, pNP-(GLcNAc)2, pNP-(GLcNAc)3, respectively. GlcNAc indicates N-acetyl glucosamine.