Chitinase and proteinase K treatments enhance the DNA yield of microsporidium Ecytonucleospora hepatopenaei spores

Microsporidium Ecytonucleospora hepatopenaei (EHP) spores were purified from the hepatopancreas of Penaeus vannamei infected with EHP by percoll density gradient centrifugation and differential centrifugation. The EHP spores contain a thick chitin wall and might not rupture using the routine DNA extraction protocol. In this study, three enzymes were used, including chitinase, proteinase K, and DNase I. Chitinase or proteinase K digestions caused weakened fluorescence of chitin showing by a blurred edge of EHP spores stained with calcofluor white under a fluorescence microscope. Different combinations of these enzymes followed by DNA extraction with phenol–chloroform from EHP spores showed significant increases in the copy number of the EHP SSU gene per spore. The combination of the chitinase and proteinase K treatments resulted 4.46 ± 1.07 copies/spore detected, which is 31.6 ± 20.7 folds of no treatment groups, accounting to (55.7 ± 13.4)% of the total copies of the gene in the spore. The additional treatment with chitinase to the conventional extraction protocol with a proteinase K digestion step for feces and hepatopancreas samples of P. vannamei resulted in a significant difference in EHP copies in the DNA of (83.8 ± 64.1)% and (55.3 ± 88.0)% increases. The study proved that chitinase and proteinase K treatment enhance the DNA extraction from microsporidian spores resulting in high yield.