Recent Research on Chitin, Chitosan, and Chitinase in Food Field

Dear Colleagues,

Chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature, widely found in the exoskeletons of crustaceans and insects, as well as in fungal cell walls. Chitin and its partially deacetylated derivative (chitosan) exhibit broad application prospects in fields such as food, biology, agriculture, medicine, and materials science. In recent years, significant progress has been made in the research of chitin and related enzymes. Not only have multiple sources of chitinase genes been successfully cloned and expressed, but the relationship between their structure and function has also been extensively explored. Through protein engineering techniques, researchers have improved the catalytic efficiency and stability of chitinases. Oligosaccharides prepared using enzymatic methods possess various biological functions and hold promise for development into health supplements, laying a foundation for industrial applications.

Meanwhile, due to its unique biocompatibility and biodegradability, chitosan has been widely applied in drug carriers, tissue engineering scaffolds, and antimicrobial materials. Additionally, the technology for producing chitinase through microbial fermentation has gradually matured, reducing costs and promoting commercialization. From an environmental protection perspective, chitin and its derivatives can serve as natural biodegradable materials, potentially replacing traditional plastic products and alleviating white pollution. Moreover, in the food industry, chitosan serves as a functional food additive with health benefits such as regulating gut microbiota and lowering cholesterol levels.

Current research focuses on several key areas: (1) further optimizing the performance of chitinases, particularly developing efficient expression systems tailored for specific substrates or environmental conditions; (2) exploring more designs of functional materials based on chitosan, such as smart responsive drug delivery systems and green packaging materials; (3) strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration by integrating cutting-edge technologies like nanotechnology and gene editing to promote innovative applications of chitin, chitosan, and chitinases in healthcare and other fields. In summary, with continuous research advancements and technological progress, chitin is poised to play a greater role across multiple sectors, offering new solutions and approaches to address many of humanity's challenges.

Thus, we invite researchers to contribute their current investigations to this important emergent field in this Special Issue of Foods.

Dr. Xing Fu
Dr. Alei Zhang
Prof. Dr. Bin Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• chitin
• chitinase
• chitosan
• oligosacch
• shrimp
• bio-material
• packaging
• function
• bacteria
• enzyme
• protein engineering