Search

Enzymatic degradation of biomass is preferred over chemical methods for environmental protection. However, in most cases, a chemical pretreatment is still required to help improve enzyme accessibility of the biomass. Therefore, it is necessary to develop highly efficient enzymes for those reasons and to save costs accordingly. Costs can be further reduced if the enzymes are recycled. XynR8(N58D) is an engineered and highly active xylanase originating from the rumen fungus Neocallimastix patriciarum. In this study, XynR8(N58D) was extracellularly over-expressed by Pichia pastoris. The resulting crude enzyme solution, with a purity of XynR8(N58D) of over 80%, was used to prepare the cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEA) of XynR8(N58D). Specific activity of the crude enzyme solution was 11,599.39 IU/mg, and that of CLEA was 6129.42 IU/mg. The immobilization yield and the immobilization efficiency were 62.68 ± 16.20% and 84.31 ± 3.11%, respectively. The thermostability, stress tolerance, and shelf life of CLEA were significantly better than those of the free enzyme. The free enzyme and CLEA both effectively decomposed insoluble xylan and autoclaved corncob powders. Therefore, XynR8(N58D) made into CLEA not only maintained high activity, but also improved its stability and permitted its reuse or recyclability. Both forms of the enzyme can effectively degrade lignocellulosic biomass without relying on chemical pretreatment to reduce recalcitrance of the biomass structure. The application of XynR8(N58D) and its CLEA to biomass degradation can help establish an eco-friendly and more cost-effective process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invertase enzyme has been immobilized onto various support materials to enhance operational stability, shelf life, and reusability compared to free ones. Among the immobilization methods, carrier-free immobilization, such as cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs), attracts attention. However, recovery of the CLEAs from the reaction environment by centrifugation or filtration is a great challenge. The use of magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4) can overcome these separation limitations of the aggregates. For this aim, in this study, the surface of magnetite nanoparticles was functionalized with a significant number of free amino groups through silanization reaction. After precipitation of these aggregates and then cross-linking to the functionalized structure, the resulting magnetite cross-linked invertase aggregates (MCLIAs) were obtained, having different enzyme and glutaraldehyde concentrations. Magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by SEM, VSM, and FTIR analysis. The assay parameters, both constructional and experimental ones on the activity of MCLIAs, were practically determined by a personal glucose meter (PGM). The results indicate that magnetite nanoparticles with superparamagnetic behaviour were successfully functionalized with amino groups. The activity results demonstrated that experimental parameters were more effective than constructional parameters. MCLIAs also exhibited maximum activity at pH 5. Furthermore, 30-min incubation time and 35 °C were the best activity assay conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on well-known but commonly overlooked or unreported factors in the preparation of cross-linked enzyme nano-aggregates (nano-CLEAs). The parameters including the ionic strength of the protein solution, protein, precipitant and cross-linker concentrations, pH and addition order of the reagents were fine-tuned for nanoaggregate preparation without the need of non-protein support material, special equipment or sophisticated procedures. For this purpose, precipitation as nano-aggregates and then cross-linking while maintaining submicron size distribution were studied independently. Moreover, nano-aggregate formation from reverse micellar solutions was also investigated to improve the scope of the method to membrane-bound enzymes. Five different precipitation agents together with three different cross-linkers were investigated for immobilization of the Trametes versicolor laccase as cross-linked nano-aggregates. Although complete activity recovery was possible for micro-aggregates, the best activity results for nano-aggregates were 40.5%±5.0. The Km values of the immobilized enzymes were slightly lower than the Km values of the free counterparts which indicate little or no mass transfer limitation due to the nano-immobilization process. However, Vmax values were also lower. The activity loss and Vmax reduction upon immobilization were found to mainly result from the modification of the amine groups instead of excess crosslinking. The thermal stabilities of the crosslinked laccase nano-aggregates were significantly higher (∼10–30 fold at 60 °C) compared to free laccase and the nano-CLEAs retained up to 30% of their initial activities upon 7 consequent usages. The sizes of the obtained immobilized enzyme products were found to be greatly variable depending on the cross-linker type. The smaller particles (∼200 nm radius) were obtained when EDAC was used as the cross-linker. The larger products (∼600 nm radius) were prepared when the cross-linker was dextran poly-aldehyde. The addition order of the reagents was found to be effective on particle size and thermal stability values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) are prepared by precipitation of an enzyme and then chemical cross-linking the precipitate. Three CLEAs of lipase with glutaraldehyde concentrations of 10 mM (CLEA A), 40 mM (CLEA B) and 60 mM (CLEA C) were prepared. Studies show that there is a trade-off between thermal stability vs transesterification/hydrolysis rate vs enantioselectivity. The initial rates for transesterification of β-citronellol for the uncross-linked enzyme and CLEAs A, B and C were 243, 167, 102 and 40 µmol mg-1 h-1, respectively. Their thermal stabilities in aqueous media, as reflected by their half-life values at 55°C, were 6, 9, 13 and 16 h, respectively. The enantioselectivity, E values (for kinetic resolution of β-citronellol by transesterification) were 19, 74, 11 and 6, respectively. These results show that CLEA C was the most thermostable; the uncross-linked enzyme was best at obtaining the highest transesterification rate; and CLEA A was best suited for the enantioselective synthesis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the morphology of CLEA was dependent upon the extent of cross-linking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]