Removal of mercury (II) from aqueous solution using papain immobilized on alginate bead: optimization of immobilization condition and modeling of removal study.

Papain having the characteristics of metal binding ability is immobilized on alginate bead. Design Expert Software (Version 7.1.6) uses Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for statistical designing of operating condition for immobilization of papain on alginate bead considering concentration of papain, concentration of sodium alginate, concentration of calcium chloride and pH as numeric factors and Specific Enzymatic Activity (SEA) of immobilized papain sample as response. Immobilization using 25.96 g/L papain, 20 g/L sodium alginate and 20 g/L calcium chloride at pH 7 gives the desired product as indicated by ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). Three parameters viz., initial concentration of mercury (II), amount of AIP and pH are varied in a systematic manner. Maximum 98.88% removal of mercury (II) has been achieved within 8 min when simulated aqueous solution of mercury (II) with initial concentration of 10mg/L has been contacted with 5 g of AIP at pH 9 and at 35 degrees C in a batch contactor. A mathematical model has been developed and the value of equilibrium constant for binding of mercury (II) with AIP has been found to be 126797.3.

Efficient and stable enzyme immobilization in a block copolypeptide vesicle-templated biomimetic silica support.

We report the immobilization of a model enzyme, papain, within silica matrices by combining vesiclization of poly-l-lysine-b-polyglycine block copolypeptides with following silica mineralization. Our novel strategy utilizes block polypeptide vesicles to induce the condensation of orthosilicic acid while trapping an enzyme within and between vesicles. The polypeptide mediated silica-immobilized enzyme exhibits enhanced pH and thermal stability and reusability, comparing with the free and vesicle encapsulated enzyme. The enhanced enzymatic activity in the immobilized enzyme is due to the confinement of the enzyme in the polypeptide mediated silica matrices. Kinetic analysis shows that the enzyme functionality is determined by the structure and property of silica/polypeptide matrices. The proposed novel strategy provides an alternative route for the synthesis of a broad range of functional bionanocomposites entrapped within silica nanostructures.

Biomolecular papain thin films growth by laser techniques.

Papain thin films were synthesised by matrix assisted and conventional pulsed laser deposition (PLD) techniques. The targets submitted to laser radiation consisted on a frozen composite obtained by dissolving the biomaterials in distilled water. For the deposition of the thin films by conventional PLD pressed biomaterial powder targets were submitted to laser irradiation. An UV KrF* excimer laser source was used in the experiments at 0.5 J/cm(2) incident fluence value, diminished one order of magnitude as compared to irradiation of inorganic materials. The surface morphology of the obtained thin films was studied by atomic force profilometry and atomic force microscopy. The investigations showed that the growth mode and surface quality of the deposited biomaterial thin films is strongly influenced by the target preparation procedure.

Conformational study of papain in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate in aqueous medium.

The interactions between a globular protein, papain and the anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) have been investigated in aqueous medium using fluorimetric, circular dichroism, Fourier transform infra-red, UV-vis spectrophotometric, dynamic light scattering, and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The conformational change of papain in aqueous solution has been studied in the presence of SDS. The results show the high alpha-helical content and unfolded structure of papain in the presence of SDS due to strong electrostatic repulsion leading to a "necklace and bead model" in protein-surfactant complexes.

X-ray crystal structure of papain complexed with cathepsin B-specific covalent-type inhibitor: substrate specificity and inhibitory activity.

The Ile-Pro sequence of CA074, potent covalent-type inhibitor, is necessary to exhibit the specificity for cathepsin B, but not for papain. In order to elucidate how its sequence binds to papain and why such binding does not exhibit the specificity for papain at the atomic level, two CA074-related compounds, 1 (N-(L-3-carboxyloxirane-2-carbonyl)-L-isoleucyl-L-proline) and 2 (N-(L-3-carboxyloxirane-2-carbonyl)-L-isoleucyl-diethylamide), were designed and their structure--inhibitory activity relationship was investigated by the X-ray crystal analyses of the complexes with papain. The Ile-Pro moiety of 1 was located at the S2 and S3 subsites consisting of Val-133, Val-157, and Asp-158 and of Tyr-61, Gly-66, and Tyr-67 residues of papain, respectively, which is in contrast with the binding of CA074 to S'n (n = 1 approximately 2) subsites in the complex with cathepsin B. Although 2 in the complex with papain showed the similar binding pattern to 1, its inhibitory activity was about two-fold higher than of 1, suggesting the importance of tight S3-P3 hydrophobic interaction for the activity. The difference of the substrate specificity between papain and cathepsin B has also been discussed based on the X-ray results of the present and cathepsin B-inhibitor complexes.

X-ray crystallographic structure of a papain-leupeptin complex.

The three-dimensional structure of the papain-leupeptin complex has been determined by X-ray crystallography to a resolution of 2.1 A (overall R-factor = 19.8%). The structure indicates that: (i) leupeptin contacts the S subsites of the papain active site and not the S' subsites; (ii) the 'carbonyl' carbon atom of the inhibitor is covalently bound by the Cys-25 sulphur atom of papain and is tetrahedrally coordinated; (iii) the 'carbonyl' oxygen atom of the inhibitor faces the oxyanion hole and makes hydrogen bond contacts with Gln-19 and Cys-25.