MicroGISAXS of Langmuir-Blodgett protein films: effect of temperature on long-range order.

The grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering technique has been used here with a microfocus beamline (microGISAXS) to study the effect of temperature on the protein reorganization taking place in a Langmuir-Schaefer multilayered enzyme film. The study appears quite reproducible in the two enzymes being utilized, penicillin G acylase and urease. In-plane and out-of-plane cuts are used to account for the changes in the film thickness and distance between structures taking place by the process of heating up to 423 K and cooling to room-temperature. The out-of-plane cut suggests that the structures are getting closer and are becoming more organized owing to the heating affect. Merging of layers is likely to occur during the heating and cooling process, leading to a loss of correlation between the interfaces of the layers and to the establishment of long-range order. The dramatic increase in long-range order in the Langmuir-Blodgett multilayered enzyme films after heating and cooling, made here apparent by grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering using a microbeam, could in the future open the way to avoiding the bottleneck of protein crystallization for protein structure determination.

Enzyme distribution and matrix characteristics in biocatalytic particles.

In a study of Assemblase, an industrial immobilized penicillin-G acylase, various electron microscopic techniques were used to relate intra-particle enzyme heterogeneity with the morphological heterogeneity of the support material at various levels of detail. Transmission electron microscopy was used for the study of intra-particle penicillin-G acylase distribution in Assemblase particles of various sizes; it revealed an abrupt increase in enzyme loading at the particle surface (1.4-fold) and in the areas (designated halo's) surrounding internal macro-voids (7.7-fold). Cryogenic field-emission scanning electron microscopy related these abrupt local enzyme heterogeneities to local heterogeneity of the support material by revealing the presence of dense top layers surrounding both the particle exterior and the internal macro-voids. Furthermore, it showed a very distinct morphological appearance of the halo. Most probably, all these regions contained relatively more chitosan than gelatin (the polymers Assemblase was constructed of), which suggested local polymer demixing during particle production. A basic thermodynamic line of reasoning suggested that a difference in hydrophilicity between the two polymers induced local demixing. In the future, thermodynamic knowledge on such polymer interactions resulting in matrix heterogeneity may be used as a tool for biocatalyst design.

Enzyme distribution derived from macroscopic particle behavior of an industrial immobilized penicillin-G acylase.

The macroscopic kinetic behavior of an industrially employed immobilized penicillin-G acylase, called Assemblase, formed the basis for a discussion on some simple intraparticle biocatalytic model distributions. Assemblase catalyzes the synthesis of the widely used semisynthetic antibiotic cephalexin. Despite the obvious advantages of immobilization, less cephalexin and more of the unwanted byproduct d-(-)-phenylglycine are obtained due to diffusional limitations when the immobilized enzyme is employed. To rationally optimize Assemblase, the parameters particle size, enzyme loading, and enzyme distribution, which severely determine the macroscopic particle performance, were studied on the basis of macroscopic observations. Laser diffraction measurements showed that the particle sizes in Assemblase vary as much as 100-fold. The relative and total enzyme loadings in Assemblase and fractions thereof of different sizes were determined by initial-rate d-(-)-phenylglycine amide hydrolysis, cephalexin synthesis experiments, and active-site titration. These experiments revealed that the loading of penicillin-G acylase in Assemblase was inversely correlated with the particle diameter. Apart from enzyme loadings, estimates on the intraparticle enzyme distribution came from cephalexin synthesis experiments, where mass-transport limitations were present. Although this method cannot provide the level of detail of specific labeling experiments, it is simple, fast, and cheap. Within the set of simple model predictions, a heterogeneous enzyme distribution with most biocatalyst present in the outer region of the particle (within the outer 100 microm) gave the best description of the observed behavior, although no exact correlation was established. Highly detailed determination of intraparticle enzyme distributions must come from immunolabeling.