Immobilization of epoxide hydrolase from Aspergillus niger onto DEAE-cellulose: enzymatic properties and application for the enantioselective resolution of a racemic epoxide

Epoxide Hydrolases: Multipotential Biocatalysts

Epoxide hydrolases are attractive and industrially important biocatalysts. They can catalyze the enantioselective hydrolysis of epoxides to the corresponding diols as chiral building blocks for bioactive compounds and drugs. In this review article, we discuss the state of the art and development potential of epoxide hydrolases as biocatalysts based on the most recent approaches and techniques. The review covers new approaches to discover epoxide hydrolases using genome mining and enzyme metagenomics, as well as improving enzyme activity, enantioselectivity, enantioconvergence, and thermostability by directed evolution and a rational design. Further improvements in operational and storage stabilization, reusability, pH stabilization, and thermal stabilization by immobilization techniques are discussed in this study. New possibilities for expanding the synthetic capabilities of epoxide hydrolases by their involvement in non-natural enzyme cascade reactions are described.

Enzyme immobilization in hydrogels: A perfect liaison for efficient and sustainable biocatalysis

Biocatalysis is an established chemical synthesis technology that has by no means been restricted to research laboratories. The use of enzymes for organic synthesis has evolved greatly from early development to proof-of-concept - from small batch production to industrial scale. Different enzyme immobilization strategies contributed to this success story. Recently, the use of hydrogel materials for the immobilization of enzymes has been attracting great interest. Within this review, we pay special attention to recent developments in this key emerging field of research. Firstly, we will briefly introduce the concepts of both biocatalysis and hydrogel worlds. Then, we list recent interesting publications that link both concepts. Finally, we provide an outlook and comment on future perspectives of further exploration of enzyme immobilization strategies in hydrogels.

Immobilization and Characterization of Pectinase onto the Cationic Polystyrene Resin

In the present study, the immobilization of free pectinase onto polystyrene resin beads via crosslinking with glutaraldehyde was investigated. The immobilized pectinase was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy. After optimizing the immobilization conditions, the optimum pH of immobilized pectinase shifted from 8.0 to 8.5 and the optimum temperature shifted from 45 to 60 °C, showing its improved stability to temperature and pH compared with the free pectinase. The Michaelis-Menten constant K _m value of free and immobilized pectinase was determined to be 1.95 and 5.36 mM, respectively. The storage stability of immobilized pectinase was demonstrated with 36.8% of the initial activity preserved after 30 days at 25 °C. The reusability of the immobilized pectinase activity was 54.6% of its initial activity after being recycled six times. Therefore, based on the findings mentioned above, it can be inferred that this simple immobilization technique for pectinase appears to be promising for industrial applications.

Recent advances in β-galactosidase and fructosyltransferase immobilization technology

The highly demanding conditions of industrial processes may lower the stability and affect the activity of enzymes used as biocatalysts. Enzyme immobilization emerged as an approach to promote stabilization and easy removal of enzymes for their reusability. The aim of this review is to go through the principal immobilization strategies addressed to achieve optimal industrial processes with special care on those reported for two types of enzymes: β-galactosidases and fructosyltransferases. The main methods used to immobilize these two enzymes are adsorption, entrapment, covalent coupling and cross-linking or aggregation (no support is used), all of them having pros and cons. Regarding the support, it should be cost-effective, assure the reusability and an easy recovery of the enzyme, increasing its stability and durability. The discussion provided showed that the type of enzyme, its origin, its purity, together with the type of immobilization method and the support will affect the performance during the enzymatic synthesis. Enzymes' immobilization involves interdisciplinary knowledge including enzymology, nanotechnology, molecular dynamics, cellular physiology and process design. The increasing availability of facilities has opened a variety of possibilities to define strategies to optimize the activity and re-usability of β-galactosidases and fructosyltransferases, but there is still great place for innovative developments.

New Thermophilic α/β Class Epoxide Hydrolases Found in Metagenomes From Hot Environments

Two novel epoxide hydrolases (EHs), Sibe-EH and CH65-EH, were identified in the metagenomes of samples collected in hot springs in Russia and China, respectively. The two α/β hydrolase superfamily fold enzymes were cloned, over-expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and characterized. The new EHs were active toward a broad range of substrates, and in particular, Sibe-EH was excellent in the desymmetrization of cis-2,3-epoxybutane producing the (2R,3R)-diol product with ee exceeding 99%. Interestingly these enzymes also hydrolyse (4R)-limonene-1,2-epoxide with Sibe-EH being specific for the trans isomer. The Sibe-EH is a monomer in solution whereas the CH65-EH is a dimer. Both enzymes showed high melting temperatures with the CH65-EH being the highest at 85°C retaining 80% of its initial activity after 3 h thermal treatment at 70°C making it the most thermal tolerant wild type epoxide hydrolase described. The Sibe-EH and CH65-EH have been crystallized and their structures determined to high resolution, 1.6 and 1.4 Å, respectively. The CH65-EH enzyme forms a dimer via its cap domains with different relative orientation of the monomers compared to previously described EHs. The entrance to the active site cavity is located in a different position in CH65-EH and Sibe-EH in relation to other known bacterial and mammalian EHs.

An Overview on the Enhancement of Enantioselectivity and Stability of Microbial Epoxide Hydrolases

Epoxide hydrolases (EHs; 3.3.2.x) catalyze the enantioselective ring opening of racemic epoxides to the corresponding enantiopure vicinal diols and remaining equivalent unreacted epoxides. These epoxides and diols are used for the synthesis of chiral drug intermediates. With an upsurge in the methods for identification of novel microbial EHs, a lot of EHs have been discovered and utilized for kinetic resolution of racemic epoxides. However, there is still a constraint on the account of limited EHs being successfully applied on the preparative scale for industrial biotransformations. This limitation has to be overcome before application of identified functional EHs on large scale. Many strategies such as optimizing reaction media, immobilizing EHs and laboratory-scale directed evolution of EHs have been adopted for enhancing the industrial potential of EHs. In this review, these approaches have been highlighted which can serve as a pathway for the enrichment of already identified EHs for their application on an industrial scale in future studies.

Purification and characterization of levansucrases from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in intra- and extracellular forms useful for the synthesis of levan and fructooligosaccharides

The intra- and extracellular levansucrase (LS) activities produced by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens were promoted by supplementing the sucrose medium with yeast and peptone as nitrogen sources. These activities were purified by polyethylene glycol (PEG) fractionation for the first time. PEGs of low molecular weight selectively fractionated the intracellular LS activity rather than the extracellular LS activity. Contrary to other LSs, B. amyloliquefaciens LSs exhibited high levan-forming activity over a wide range of sucrose concentrations. The optimum temperatures for the intra- (25-30 °C) and extracellular (40 °C) LS transfructosylation activities were lower than those for the hydrolytic activities (45-50 °C; 50 °C). In addition, the catalytic efficiency for the transfructosylation activity of intracellular LS was higher than that of extracellular LS. These differences between intra- and extracellular LSs reveal the occurrence of certain conformational changes to LS upon protein secretion and/or purification. This study is the first to highlight that B. amyloliquefaciens LSs synthesized a variety of FOSs from various saccharides, with lactose and maltose being the best fructosyl acceptors.

Molecular engineering of epoxide hydrolase and its application to asymmetric and enantioconvergent hydrolysis

Safety and regulatory issues favor increasing use of enantiopure compounds in pharmaceuticals. Enantiopure epoxides and diols are valuable intermediates in organic synthesis for the production of optically active pharmaceuticals. Enantiopure epoxide can be prepared using epoxide hydrolase (EH)-catalyzed asymmetric hydrolysis of its racemate. Enantioconvergent hydrolysis of racemic epoxides by EHs possessing complementary enantioselectivity and regioselectivity can lead to the formation of enantiopure vicinal diols with high yield. EHs are cofactor-independent and easy-to-use catalysts. EHs will attract much attention as commercial biocatalysts for the preparation of enantiopure epoxides and diols. In this paper, recent progress in molecular engineering of EHs is reviewed. Some examples and prospects of asymmetric and enantioconvergent hydrolysis reactions are discussed as supplements to molecular engineering to improve EH performance.