Identification of new transformation products during enzymatic treatment of tetracycline and erythromycin antibiotics at laboratory scale by an on-line turbulent flow liquid-chromatography coupled to a high resolution mass spectrometer LTQ-Orbitrap.

This work describes the formation of transformation products (TPs) by the enzymatic degradation at laboratory scale of two highly consumed antibiotics: tetracycline (Tc) and erythromycin (ERY). The analysis of the samples was carried out by a fast and simple method based on the novel configuration of the on-line turbulent flow system coupled to a hybrid linear ion trap - high resolution mass spectrometer. The method was optimized and validated for the complete analysis of ERY, Tc and their transformation products within 10 min without any other sample manipulation. Furthermore, the applicability of the on-line procedure was evaluated for 25 additional antibiotics, covering a wide range of chemical classes in different environmental waters with satisfactory quality parameters. Degradation rates obtained for Tc by laccase enzyme and ERY by EreB esterase enzyme without the presence of mediators were ∼78% and ∼50%, respectively. Concerning the identification of TPs, three suspected compounds for Tc and five of ERY have been proposed. In the case of Tc, the tentative molecular formulas with errors mass within 2 ppm have been based on the hypothesis of dehydroxylation, (bi)demethylation and oxidation of the rings A and C as major reactions. In contrast, the major TP detected for ERY has been identified as the "dehydration ERY-A", with the same molecular formula of its parent compound. In addition, the evaluation of the antibiotic activity of the samples along the enzymatic treatments showed a decrease around 100% in both cases.

A nitrilase from a metagenomic library acts regioselectively on aliphatic dinitriles.

Several novel nitrilases were selected from metagenomic libraries using cinnamonitrile and a mixture of six different nitriles as substrates. The nitrilase gene nit1 was expressed in Escherichia coli and the resulting protein was further examined concerning its biochemical properties. Nit1 turned out to be an aliphatic nitrilase favoring dinitriles over mononitriles. Stereochemical analysis revealed that Nit1 converted the dinitrile 2-methylglutaronitrile regioselectively. Hydrolysis at the ω-nitrile group of a dinitrile, such as catalyzed by Nit1, leads to ω-cyanocarboxylic acids, which are important precursors for chemical and pharmaceutical products. Nit1 metabolized 2-methylglutaronitrile to the corresponding ω-cyanocarboxylic acid 4-cyanopentanoic acid can be used for the production of the fine chemical 1,5-dimethyl-2-piperidone.

Indication for a new lipolytic enzyme family: isolation and characterization of two esterases from a metagenomic library.

We have isolated several novel esterase genes from a sheep rumen metagenomic library using the activity-based cluster screening approach as a highly efficient screening technology. The two most remarkable esterase genes, designated estGK1 and estZ3, were further examined. Sequence analysis of estGK1 and estZ3 revealed that they encoded proteins covering 322 and 317 amino acids, respectively. Both proteins were biochemically characterized. EstGK1 and EstZ3 have only minor overall sequence similarity to known esterases. We propose that, together with other hypothetical enzymes, they constitute a new family of lipolytic enzymes. EstGK1 harbors the catalytic serine in the conserved pentapeptide GHSQG, which is typical for lipases, whereas EstZ3 and several other hypothetical proteins contain the pentapeptide SHSQG, a new variation of the conserved motif in lipolytic enzyme families.