CHITINOLYTIC ACTIVITIES OF ENDOPHYTIC BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM SYMPTOM-FREE CHINESE CABBAGE LEAVESP.W.H.K.P. DAULAGALA AND EUNICE J. ALLAN- ATKINSAbstract Virtually all plants are inhabited by endophytic microorganisms, often bacteria and fungi. Endophytes are ubiquitous colonizers of the inner plant tissues where they do not normally cause any substantial morphological changes and disease symptoms in contrast to phytopathogens. Both Grampositive and Gram-negative bacterial endophytes have been isolated from several tissues in numerous plant species. In this study, fourteen isolates of endophytic bacteria (M1ccl M14ccl) isolated from leaves of symptom-free Chinese cabbage cv. Yamico were assayed for chitinase activities in fluorometric assay with 4-methylumbelliferyl substrates. The highest chitinase activity was given by the isolate M11ccl followed by the isolate M4ccl. The assay results of these two bacterial isolates were confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) activity gels. The chitinase isozyme patterns obtained for these two isolates were different from each other in their banding patterns in gels. No growth inhibition of Botrytis cinerea was obtained with the cell-free culture supernatants of M4ccl and M11ccl.
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