The chitin is one of the most abundant biopolymers in biomass. Its main industrial derivative is the chitosan. These two polysaccharides present an increasing interest thanks to their various interesting physicochemical and biological properties. Their potential applications concern diverse fields as the pharmacy, medicine, food industry and agriculture. Despite numerous advances in methods for the chemical production of chitin and chitosan, the use of concentrated solutions of acids and alkaline bases presents the disadvantage to generate large amounts of toxic wastes. Recently, biotechnological methods of chitin extractions have been proposed as an alternative to chemical methods. In this context, the main objective of this work was to develop a biotechnological process for the extraction of chitin from crustacean shells using lactic acid bacteria and enzymes. For this purpose, factors influencing reactions involved in the extraction, i.e. the demineralization, deproteinization and N-deacetylation, were studied considering the physicochemical characteristics (molecular weight and degree of N-acetylation) of chitin and chitosan produced. The recovery of extraction side products such as proteins and pigments has also been considered in this project, as well as the evaluation of various chitosans prepared by this process as fungistatic agents.
