Robotic enzyme amplification: a comparison of some kinetic properties of bovine liver, Candida utilis and Proteus sp. glutamic dehydrogenases

NADP(H)-specific Bakers yeast glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (BYG6PDH) was paired, in turn, with each of three different source glutamate dehydrogenases (GDHs): NAD(P)-specific bovine liver (BLGDH), NADP-specific Candida utilis (CUGDH) and NADP-specific Proteus sp. (PSGDH) to constitute three enzyme cycling systems; (i) BYG6PDH/BLGDH; (ii) BYG6PDH/CUGDH; and (iii) BYG6PDH/PSGDH. When incorporated into an enzymatic cycling/amplification system for NAD kinase and run on a centrifugal fast analyzer (CFA), the microbial source enzyme CUGDH gave rise to a seven-fold greater amplification rate [21.5 × 103 cycles−1 (cph)] relative to that realized (3 × 103 cph) using the BYG6PDH/BLGDH cycling pair previously reported. Either of these cycling systems can be used as a flexible and general-purpose module for robotic amplification and data collection of NADP(H) linked enzymes as a user’s requirements dictate. Although the BYG6PDH/PSGDH cycling pair produced a respectable cycling rate (14.4 × 103 cph), for reasons discussed the PSGDH enzyme was not considered a suitable replacement for BLGDH in an NADP(H) cycling system.