Exploring substrate specificities of a recombinant Rhizopus oryzae lipase in biodiesel synthesis.

The alcoholysis of triolein was used to explore the specific features of a recombinant Rhizopus oryzae lipase (rROL) for biodiesel synthesis. For this purpose, different acylglycerols were compared as substrates in lipase-catalysed transesterification. rROL was shown to exhibit a higher specificity towards 1-monoolein than triolein compared to other R. oryzae lipases, being more than 4-fold more specific; in contrast, rROL did not accept 2-monoolein as substrate, concluding that it is highly 1,3-positional specific. Comparing ethanol and methanol as acyl-acceptors, it was observed that the latter caused more lipase inactivation. Regarding alcohols, it was also demonstrated that acyl migration occurred in moderate alcohol concentrations.

Rational nanoconjugation improves biocatalytic performance of enzymes: aldol addition catalyzed by immobilized rhamnulose-1-phosphate aldolase.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are attractive materials for the immobilization of enzymes due to several advantages such as high enzyme loading, absence of internal diffusion limitations, and Brownian motion in solution, compared to the conventional immobilization onto porous macroscopic supports. The affinity of AuNPs to different groups present at the protein surface enables direct enzyme binding to the nanoparticle without the need of any coupling agent. Enzyme activity and stability appear to be improved when the biocatalyst is immobilized onto AuNPs. Rhamnulose-1-phosphate aldolase (RhuA) was selected as model enzyme for the immobilization onto AuNPs. The enzyme loading was characterized by four different techniques: surface plasmon resonance (SPR) shift and intensity, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). AuNPs-RhuA complexes were further applied as biocatalyst of the aldol addition reaction between dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) and (S)-Cbz-alaninal during two reaction cycles. In these conditions, an improved reaction yield and selectivity, together with a fourfold activity enhancement were observed, as compared to soluble RhuA.

Recombinant Candida rugosa lipase 2 from Pichia pastoris: immobilization and use as biocatalyst in a stereoselective reaction.

The characterization of the recombinant Candida rugosa Lip2 (r-Lip2) isoenzyme obtained from fed-batch cultures of Pichia pastoris under PAOX promoter was carried out, determining the optimal pH and temperature as well as their catalytic performance in both hydrolysis and synthesis reactions comparing with purified native Lip2 (n-Lip2) previously determined. The substrate specificity of r-Lip2 in hydrolysis reactions was determined with a series of triacylglycerols and p-nitrophenyl esters of variable acyl chain length. r-Lip2 showed the maximum specificity for both substrates towards medium-chain esters (C-8), similar behavior was observed with n-Lip2. However, significant differences were observed towards unsaturated substrates (triolein) or short-chain esters. A statistical design applied to study the effect of pH and temperature on lipase stability shown that r-Lip2, like n-Lip2, was more sensitive to pH than temperature changes. Nevertheless, the overall stability of soluble r-Lip2 was lower than soluble n-Lip2. The stability of r-lip2 was significantly improved by immobilization onto EP100, an excellent support for lipases with yields around 95% for offered lipolytic activity lower than 600 AU/mL. Finally, immobilized r-Lip2 was tested in the resolution of ibuprofen in isooctane by means of enantioselective esterification using 1-butanol as esterifying agent. r-Lip2 showed a better performance in terms of enantiomeric excess (74%) and enatiomeric factor (96%) than n-Lip2 (56 and 80%, respectively) for the same conversion (40%). Thus, r-Lip2 should be considered a good and pure biocatalyst, easy to produce and with a remaining activity of ca. 90% after one reaction cycle when immobilized on EP100.

Influence of secondary reactions on the synthetic efficiency of DHAP-aldolases.

The effect of secondary reactions on DHAP-dependent aldolase stereoselective synthesis yields is reported. The fuculose-1-phosphate aldolase catalyzed synthesis between DHAP and Cbz-S-alaninal has been chosen as case study. It has been demonstrated that DHAP is not only chemically degraded in the reaction medium, but also enzymatically. The last reaction has been shown to take place when type II aldolases are used as biocatalysts. In order to minimize the effect of non-desired reactions, temperature reduction has been shown to be favorable, and operation at 4 degrees C has been chosen as appropriate. On the other hand, the fed-batch addition of DHAP also increased the synthesis yields and, combined with low temperature, led to almost quantitative conversion.

Influence of induction and operation mode on recombinant rhamnulose 1-phosphate aldolase production by Escherichia coli using the T5 promoter.

Fed-batch culture techniques were employed to grow Escherichia coli at high-cell densities for the intracellular production of a recombinant rhamnulose 1-phosphate aldolase (RhuA) under the transcriptional control of the strong promoter T5, using a commercially available expression system (E. coli strain M15 and plasmid vector pQE40). A predetermined exponential feeding strategy at constant specific growth rate was selected to maintain carbon source limited growth using a defined medium. Growth rates below 0.36 h(-1) did not cause a severe formation of acetic acid while cell concentration increased exponentially up to 95 g(biomass)l(-1). The intrinsic biomass-substrate yield (gamma(X/S) = 0.48 gg(-1)) and the maintenance coefficient (mS = 0.10 g(substrate)g(biomass)(-1)h(-1)) were calculated from fed-batch growths at different specific growth rates. These values have been employed to determinate the addition profile during the fed-batch growth until IPTG induction, reaching a specific RhuA production levels of 565 AU g(biomass)(-1) which was lower than in batch (1250 AU g(biomass)(-1)). An inverse correlation between volumetric IPTG concentration and specific RhuA activity was found. A correlation between the ratio biomass/OD(600 nm) and the quantity of recombinant protein produced was found. Finally, the proposed process, after optimization of the IPTG concentration, led to significant increase in enzyme concentration and volumetric productivity compared to batch mode (2680 and 1338%, respectively).

Integrated process for the enzymatic synthesis of the octapeptide PhAcCCK-8.

A process for the enzymatic synthesis of PhAcCCK-8 is presented. The CCK-8 (CCK(26-33)) peptide fragment is the minimum sequence with biological activity of the cholecystokinin hormone. A synthetic convergent strategy has been developed starting from amino acid derivatives as raw materials, employing proteases as biocatalysts for each peptide coupling. The enzymes have been immobilized by deposition onto solid supports in order to be employed in organic media at low water activity. N-terminal protecting groups such as PhAc, which can be introduced and removed enzymatically, have been employed. The synthesis process has been set up at preparative level with focus in the integration of reaction and separation steps with an overall yield of 15%.