Sequential immobilization of urease to glycidyl methacrylate grafted sodium alginate

A novel approach to efficient degradation of indole using co-immobilized horseradish peroxidase-syringaldehyde as biocatalyst

Biocatalytic degradation technology has received a great deal of attention in water treatment because of its advantages of high efficiency, environmental friendliness, and no secondary pollution. Herein, for the first time, horseradish peroxidase and mediator syringaldehyde were co-immobilized into functionalized calcium alginate composite beads grafted with glycidyl methacrylate and dopamine. The resultant biocatalyst of the co-immobilized horseradish peroxidase-syringaldehyde system has displayed excellent catalytic performance to degrade indole in water. The degradation rate of 100% was achieved in the presence of hydrogen peroxide even if the indole concentration was changing from 25 mg/L to 500 mg/L. If only the free enzyme was used under the identical water treatment conditions, the degradation of indole could hardly be observed even when the concentration of indole is low at 25 mg/L. This was attributed to the effective co-immobilization of the enzyme and the mediator so that the catalytic activity of horseradish peroxidase and the synergistic catalytic action of syringaldehyde could be fully developed. Furthermore, while the spherical catalyst was operated in succession and reused for four cycles in 50 mg/L indole solution, the degradation rate remained 91.8% due to its considerable reusability. This research demonstrated and provided a novel biocatalytic approach to degrade indole in water by the co-immobilized horseradish peroxidase-syringaldehyde system as biocatalyst.

Effect of Cultivation Time and Medium Condition in Production of Bacterial Cellulose Nanofiber for Urease Immobilization

A new nanoporous biomatrix originated from bacterial resources has been chosen for urease immobilization. Urease has been immobilized on synthesized bacterial cellulose nanofiber since this enzyme has a key role in nitrogen metabolism.Gluconacetobacter xylinumATCC 10245 has been cultivated for synthesis of a nanofiber with the diameter of 30–70 nm. Different cultivation processes in the aspect of time and cultivation medium conditions were chosen to study the performance of immobilized enzyme on four types of bacterial cellulose nanofibers (BCNs). Urease immobilization into the nanofiber has been done in two steps: enzyme adsorption and glutaraldehyde cross-linking. The results showed that the immobilized enzymes were relatively active and highly stable compared to the control samples of free enzymes. Optimum pH was obtained 6.5 and 7 for different synthesized BCNs, while the optimum temperature for immobilized urease was 50°C. Finding of the current experiment illustrated that the immobilized enzyme in optimum condition lost its initial activity by 41% after 15 weeks.

Activity and stability of urease entrapped in thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-poly(ethyleneglycol)-methacrylate) hydrogel

Urease was entrapped in thermally responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-poly(ethyleneglycol)-methacrylate), p[NIPAM-p(PEG)-MA], copolymer hydrogels. The copolymer membrane shows temperature-responsive properties similar to conventional p(NIPAM) hydrogels, which reversibly swell below and de-swell above the lower critical solution temperature of p(NIPAM) hydrogel at around 32 °C. The retained activities of the entrapped urease (in p[NIPAM-p(PEG)-MA]-4 hydrogels) were between 83 and 53% compared to that of the same quantity of free enzyme. Due to the thermo-responsive character of the hydrogel matrix, the maximum activity was achieved at around 25 °C with the immobilized urease. Optimum pH was the same for both free and entrapped enzyme. Operational, thermal and storage stabilities of the enzyme were found to increase with entrapment of urease in the thermoresponsive hydrogel matrixes. As for reusability, the immobilized urease retained 89% of its activity after ten repeated uses.

Immobilization and stabilization of papain on poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate-ethylenglycol dimethacrylate) beads grafted with epoxy functional polymer chains via surface-initiated-atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP)

Poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate-ethylen glycol dimethacrylate), p(HEMA-EGDMA), beads were prepared by suspension polymerization, and were decorated with fibrous poly(glycidyl methacrylate), p(GMA), via surface initiated-atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). The functional epoxy groups of the beads were used for covalent immobilization of papain. The average amount of immobilized enzyme was 18.7 mg/g beads. The immobilized enzyme was characterized by temperature, pH, operational and storage stability experiments. The maximum velocity of the free and immobilized enzymes (V(max)) and Michaelis-Menten constant (K(m)) values were determined as 10.7 and 8.3 U/mg proteins and 274 and 465 μM, respectively. The immobilized papain was operated in a batch reactor, and it was very effective for hydrolysis of different proteins (i.e., casein and cytochrom c).

Response surface analysis of nano-ureases from Canavalia ensiformis and Cajanus cajan

Ureases isolated from leguminous sources, Canavalia ensiformis and Cajanus cajan were immobilized onto gold nanoparticles (nano-ureases). Optimization of the urease immobilization was carried using response surface methodology based on Central Composite Design. Immobilization efficiency of nano-urease from C. ensiformis and C. cajan were found to be 215.10% and 255.92%, respectively. The methodology adopted has deviation of 2.56% and 3.01% with respect to experimental values in case of C. ensiformis and C. cajan, respectively. Nano-urease from C. cajan has broad physico-chemical parameters with pH optimum from 7.1 to 7.3 and temperature optimum from 50 to 70°C. Nano-urease from C. ensiformis has sharp pH and temperature optima at 7.3 and 70°C, respectively. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy has revealed involvement of groups viz. amino, glycosyl moiety, etc. in urease immobilization onto gold nano-particles. Transmission and scanning electron micrographs revealed that arrangement of urease onto gold nano-particles from C. ensiformis was uniform while it was localized in case of C. cajan. Nano-urease from C. ensiformis has higher specificity and catalysis toward urea as compared to nano-urease from C. cajan. Nano-ureases from both sources are equally stable for 6 months under dried conditions and can be used for 10 washes.