The Need

Fungal spoilage is a costly challenge in global food supply chains. Conventional chemical fungicides face increasing regulatory pressure, safety concerns, and resistance issues. Biological solutions, while safer, suffer from enzyme instability and reduced catalytic activity. Our NanoChitinase addresses these limitations. A non-silica-based system removes safety concerns while an enhanced chitinase variant coupled to a polymer-nanoparticle system provides superior thermal stability and catalytic efficiency, allowing for protection of high-value produce like strawberries, citrus, onions, and stored seeds.

The Technology

This technology provides an antifungal preservation solution that is both safe and effective. Our NanoChitinase is an engineered chitinase conjugated to a polymer-nanoparticle system, allowing the enzyme to be oriented optimally for substrate access. The NanoChitinase outperforms both free chitinase and silica-based immobilization systems in enzymatic activity, biocompatibility, and storage stability.

Benefits

• High Antifungal Efficacy: 70–92% inhibition across major spoilage fungi like Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Penicillium digitatum
• Extended Shelf Life: Our NanoChitinase protects produce such as strawberries, oranges, and onions for up to 25 days post-treatment.
• Enhanced Enzyme Stability and Performance: Covalent nano-immobilization increases activity, thermal stability, and storage longevity. This NanoChitinase also shows increased solubility, reduced aggregation, improved expression efficiency, and doubled catalytic activity
• Food-Safe Formulation: Biocompatible polymer nanoparticles reduce cytotoxicity concerns associated with silica-based systems.
• Versatile Application: Can be applied as a spray, wrap, coating or soaking solution depending on commodity and workflow.

Applications

• Sprayable Coating for field crops
• Biodegradable food packaging films
• Seed treatments for crop protection
• Post-harvest storage and transport systems