[Iamanape]

What is the chitinase activity in common chitinase-rich foods such as banana, avocado, kiwi, green beans, chestnut and tomato? Please answer in units per milliliter.

[Borek]

Please read the forum rules, you have to show your efforts at answering the question to receive help.

Do you really think anyone will do the work for you?

[Iamanape]

Please read the forum rules, you have to show your efforts at answering the question to receive help.

Do you really think anyone will do the work for you?

I have tried reading scientific articles that i found by googling, but they never gave the activity in crude foods, though one of the articles did mention the activity in extracts that had been extracted with advanced methods. I do not have access to such methods.

[Borek]

Hard to tell not knowing the exact numbers, but if these extracts are still in the linear range you should be able to extrapolate to the raw material from dilution factor, no?

[Iamanape]

Hard to tell not knowing the exact numbers, but if these extracts are still in the linear range you should be able to extrapolate to the raw material from dilution factor, no?

What linear range? It was not a diluted version of the foods, after treatment with chemicals a chromatograph was used for purification. How can the activity in the food in its natural form possibly be extrapolated from that?

Does anyone know of any direct measurements of the activity in the foods in their natural state? Any measurements that are not visible on Google, perhaps?

[Borek]

What linear range?

That's a basic kinetics - for not too concentrated solutions activity of the enzyme is directly proportional to its concentration. Tenfold increase of the concentration means tenfold increase in the activity.

It was not a diluted version of the foods

But you can treat the food as the diluted version of the extract. Doesn't matter which way it goes, it is always the same math with the dilution factor.

[Iamanape]

What linear range?

That's a basic kinetics - for not too concentrated solutions activity of the enzyme is directly proportional to its concentration. Tenfold increase of the concentration means tenfold increase in the activity.

It was not a diluted version of the foods

But you can treat the food as the diluted version of the extract. Doesn't matter which way it goes, it is always the same math with the dilution factor.

The article in which food was used did not give any number on how many times more concentrated the chitinase was after purification. I have only found such numbers in articles referring to chitinase in specialist mould strains that are only sold to institutions, which is off the topic of chitinase in common food. And since chromatographs are used to concentrate the extracts, it is hardly possible to extrapolate the concentration factor of one type of crude material to another that may have a completely different level of chitinase content.

Can someone please tell if there are any measurements of the amount of chitinase activity in foods in their natural state?

[marquis]

There is a company called BioOcean that offers a Chinese test kit.  It's Elisa based and whether it will work for what you want- who knows? You might look it up.  It is not cheap.

[marquis]

That's chitinase test kit.  Sorry, spell checker. It's chitinase3-like 1 human.  Whether it would work, probable not.  But it might point you in the right direction.

[Iamanape]

That's chitinase test kit.  Sorry, spell checker. It's chitinase3-like 1 human.  Whether it would work, probable not.  But it might point you in the right direction.

I am asking for information on measurements that have already been done, not advertisement for products. And given that the plants did evolve the chitinase, it should have some effects on at least fungi, possibly also small insects. Do you know any information on activity levels?

[Iamanape]

That's chitinase test kit.  Sorry, spell checker. It's chitinase3-like 1 human.  Whether it would work, probable not.  But it might point you in the right direction.

Also, do you know any DIY ways of increasing the chitinase concentration in extracts from chitinase-rich foods? That is, some increase in chitinase activity that does not require complex stuff like chromatographs or chemicals that are only sold to institutions.

[marquis]

The point of the posts was that there are other ways to detect chitinase.  A quick search showed this one using elisa instead of chromatogrophy.  If you check the background on how the kits were developed, there you might find information useful to your project.

[Iamanape]

The point of the posts was that there are other ways to detect chitinase.  A quick search showed this one using elisa instead of chromatogrophy.  If you check the background on how the kits were developed, there you might find information useful to your project.

The point of the question was not to replace a recommendation of one complex method that is only sold to institutions with another of similar complexity and exclusivity, nor was the question about how to detect chitinase. The question is if measurements of the precise chitinase activity in units per milliliter have been done on chitinase-rich foods in their natural state, and if so, the numbers.

And when you claimed that it "probably would not work", I thought that you meant that you did not think using the chitinase content in crude foods to degrade chitin would work. That was why I mentioned that it should be sufficient to degrade the chitin of at least some organisms as a pest defense since evolution allows the chitinase to exist in the foods despite its cost, and why I asked if there are simple ways of concentrating the chitinase to a higher concentration than in the crude food. And by simple I mean DIY simple, not "buy expensive stuff".