Immobilization of penicillin acylase on acrylic carriers

Circular dichroism analysis of penicillin G acylase covalently immobilized on silica nanoparticles

Circular dichroism (CD) was used to characterize the secondary structure of penicillin G acylase upon covalent immobilization on silica nanoparticles. Covalent immobilization was achieved by functionalizing the silica nanoparticles with glutardialdehyde and coupling to the free NH(2) groups of the enzyme (lysine and arginine side chains). The loading of the covalently bound enzyme was increased up to saturation, which was reached at 54.6 mg immobilized enzyme per g silica nanobeads. For structural characterization of the commercially available enzyme its exact molecular mass was determined by mass spectrometry in order to enable precise evaluation of the CD data. The fraction of secondary structure elements of the free and immobilized enzyme were estimated from the respective CD spectra using standard algorithms (CONTINLL, CDSSTR, SELCON3). The fractions obtained by the different algorithms for the free enzyme agreed well with one another and also with data from X-ray diffraction described in the literature. Interestingly, the secondary structure fractions found for the immobilized enzyme were very similar to the free enzyme and nearly constant over all experiments. These results indicate that even a loading of up to 55.8 mg/g (enzyme per silica nanoparticles) causes only slight structural changes. However, the specific activity determined by a kinetic assay decreased by around 60%, when increasing the loading from 14.9 to 55.8 mg/g. Because of the fact that we found no major changes in the secondary structure, diffusion limitation seems to be the main reason for the decline of the specific activity.

Advantages of using non-isothermal bioreactors for the enzymatic synthesis of antibiotics: the penicillin G acylase as enzyme model

A new hydrophobic and catalytic membrane was prepared by immobilizing Penicillin G acylase (PGA, EC.3.5.1.11) from E. coli on a nylon membrane, chemically grafted with butylmethacrylate (BMA). Hexamethylenediamine (HMDA) and glutaraldehyde (Glu) were used as a spacer and coupling agent, respectively. PGA was used for the enzymatic synthesis of cephalexin, using D(-)-phenylglycine methyl ester (PGME) and 7-amino-3-deacetoxycephalosporanic acid (7-ADCA) as substrates. Several factors affecting this reaction, such as pH, temperature, and concentrations of substrates were investigated. The results indicated good enzyme-binding efficiency of the pre-treated membrane, and an increased stability of the immobilized PGA towards pH and temperature. Calculation of the activation energies showed that cephalexin production by the immobilized biocatalyst was limited by diffusion, resulting in a decrease of enzyme activity and substrate affinity. Temperature gradients were employed as a way to reduce the effects of diffusion limitation. Cephalexin was found to linearly increase with the applied temperature gradient. A temperature difference of about 3 degrees C across the catalytic membrane resulted into a cephalexin synthesis increase of 100% with a 50% reduction of the production times. The advantage of using non-isothermal bioreactors in biotechnological processes, including pharmaceutical applications, is also discussed.

Advances in enzymatic transformation of penicillins to 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA)

This article elaborates on the important recent developments in the enzymatic transformation of penicillins to 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA), which is the basic raw material for the industrial production of semisynthetic penicillins such as amoxycillin and ampicillin. Particular emphasis is placed on the improvements in purification, stability, and immobilization of the enzymes, (i.e. penicillin acylases) used for these transformations.

Effect of polymer matrix on penicillin acylase immobilization on copolymers of butyl acrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate

Copolymers of butyl acrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate with various degree of crosslinking and aminolysis were used for penicillin acylase immobilization. The amount and activity of the bound protein decreased with the decrease of crosslinking when copolymers having nearly constant degrees of aminolysis were compared. The increase of the carrier amino group content increased the ability to bind the protein (by glutaraldehyde method) without a proportional rise of enzyme activity. The comparative studies of immobilization effect and performance of the derivatives showed 40% crosslinked EGDMA, having an amino group content of 0.67 mmol g-3, to be the carrier of choice. This selected carrier was tested for active protein immobilization by use of crude acylase preparation. It was shown that up to a protein concentration of 9 mg cm-3 in the immobilization mixture the active protein was preferentially bound to the polymer matrix. It was indicated also that the derivative stability was mostly affected by multipoint attachment of the enzyme to the carrier surface.

Immobilization of penicillin acylase on copolymer of butyl acrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate

The effects of glutaraldehyde, enzyme concentrations and reactants volumes, ionic strength, pH value and carrier particle diameter on immobilization of penicillin acylase onto acrylic carriers were studied. The activity of immobilized enzyme preparations was also studied over a range of pH values and temperatures and thermal and pH stabilities were determined. The use of the immobilized preparation for penicillin G hydrolysis in a batch reactor was investigated. The immobilized enzyme gave a significant reduction in hydrolysis time compared to hydrolysis by the native enzyme.