A smart bioconjugate of chymotrypsin

Multipoint Immobilization at Inert Center of Papain on Homo-Functional Diazo-Activated Silica Support: A Way of Restoring "Above Room-Temperature" Bio-Catalytic Sustainability

Although enzymes play a significant role in industrial applications, their potential usage at high-level efficiency, particularly above room temperature, has not yet been fully harnessed. It brings above room-temperature catalytic sustainability of an immobilized (imm.) bio-catalyst as a long pending issue to improve enzyme stability, activity, specificity, or selectivity, particularly the enantio-selectivity over the native-enzymes. At this juncture, in a robust methodology, a heterogeneous solid phase bio-catalyst, {Si(OSi)₄(H₂O)_1.03}_n=328{OSi(CH₃)₂-NH-C₆H₄-N═N}₄{papain}(H₂O)₂₅₁, has efficiently been prepared by immobilizing papain on homo-functionalized SG (silica-gel) via multipoint covalent attachment. The bio-catalyst is easy to be recovered and reused multiple times. The homo-functional -N═N⁺, which appears on the SG-surface, makes the multipoint diazo-links with the inert center of the tyrosine-moiety to couple the enzyme where all the amino, thiol, phenol, and so forth, groups of the protein, including those that belong to the active-site, remain intact. The immobilized enzyme (13.9 μmol g^-1) swims in pore-water within the pore-channel, remains stable up to 70 ± 5 °C, and exhibits wider temperature adaptability in performing its hydrolyzing activities. The relative activity, 78 ± 2% at 27 °C, remains quantitative for 60 days and can be reused for 60 cycles with 53% activity at room-temperature. The thermal (relative activity: 87%; incubated at 70 ± 5 °C for 24 h) and mechanical (relative activity: 92%; incubated at 2500 rpm for 2 h at 27 °C) stability was outstanding.

Green method for improving performance attributes of wool fibres using immobilized proteolytic thermozyme

Wool has the tendency to turn into felt during agitation in washing machines. Thus, a benign non-polluting method for the production of machine-washable wool was developed herein. Initially, a proteolytic bacteria was isolated from hot region soil. The bacterial isolate was identified as Bacillus safensis FO-36bMZ836779 according to the 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Afterwards, the extracellular protease produced by this isolate was covalently immobilized in order to enhance its stability under non-ambient conditions which are usually adopted in industrial sectors like textile industries. Sericin, which is usually discharged into degumming effluent of natural silk, was utilized to prepare the immobilization carrier. Box–Behnken design was adopted in order to hone the preparation of the sericin–polyethylene–imine–glutaraldehyde activated agar carrier. The pH and temperature profiles of the free and immobilized proteases were compared. Later, wool fibres were bio-treated with both the free and the immobilized enzymes. The effect of process conditions on the resistance of the bio-finished wool to felting was investigated. The alteration in the fibre morphology was monitored using SEM. Amino acid analysis and alkali solubility tests were adopted to assign any change in the chemical structure of the bio-treated wool. The influence of bio-treatment of wool on its inherent properties was assigned. Results revealed that bio-treatment of wool with the said enzyme led to production of machine-washable wool without severe deterioration in the fibres’ properties. In an energy- and water-consuming process, the hot solution from bio-treatment bath was used successfully in dyeing of wool.

High Adsorption of α-Glucosidase on Polymer Brush-Modified Anisotropic Particles Acquired by Electrospraying-A Combined Experimental and Simulation Study

In this particular contribution, we aim to immobilize a model enzyme such as α-glucosidase onto poly(DMAEMA) [poly(2-dimethyl amino ethyl methacrylate)] brush-modified anisotropic (cup- and disc-shaped) biocompatible polymeric particles. The anisotropic particles comprising a blend of PLA [poly(lactide)] and poly(MMA-co-BEMA) [poly((methyl methacrylate)-co-(2-(2-bromopropionyloxy) ethyl methacrylate)] were acquired by electrospraying, a scalable and convenient technique. We have also demonstrated the role of a swollen polymer brush grafted on the surface of cup-/disc-shaped particles via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization in immobilizing an unprecedentedly high loading of enzyme [441 mg/g (cup)-589 mg/g (disc) of particles, 15-20 times higher than that of the literature-reported system] as compared to non-brush-modified particles. Circular dichroism spectroscopy was used to predict the structural changes of the enzyme upon immobilization onto the carrier particles. An enormously high amount of enzymes with preserved activity (∼85 ± 13% for cups and ∼78 ± 15% for discs) was found to adhere onto brush-modified particles at pH 7 via electrostatic adsorption. These findings were further explored at the atomistic level using a coarse-grained dissipative particle dynamics simulation approach, which exhibited excellent correlation with experimental results. In addition, accelerated particle separation was also achieved via magnetic force-induced aggregation within 20 min (without a centrifuge) by incorporating magnetic nanoparticles into disc-shaped particles while electrojetting. This further strengthens the technical feasibility of the process, which holds immense potential to be applied for various enzymes intended for several applications.

Understanding Design Rules for Optimizing the Interface between Immobilized Enzymes and Random Copolymer Brushes

A long-standing goal in the field of biotechnology is to develop and understand design rules for the stabilization of enzymes upon immobilization to materials. While immobilization has sometimes been successful as a strategy to stabilize enzymes, the design of synthetic materials that stabilize enzymes remains largely empirical. We sought to overcome this challenge by investigating the mechanistic basis for the stabilization of immobilized lipases on random copolymer brush surfaces comprised of poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA) and sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA), which represent novel heterogeneous supports for immobilized enzymes. Using several related but structurally diverse lipases, including Bacillus subtilis lipase A (LipA), Rhizomucor miehei lipase, Candida rugosa lipase, and Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB), we showed that the stability of each lipase at elevated temperatures was strongly dependent on the fraction of PEGMA in the brush layer. This dependence was explained by developing and applying a new algorithm to quantify protein surface hydrophobicity, which involved using unsupervised cluster analysis to identify clusters of hydrophobic atoms. Characterization of the lipases showed that the optimal brush composition correlated with the free energy of solvation per enzyme surface area, which ranged from -17.1 kJ/mol·nm² for LipA to -11.8 kJ/mol·nm² for CALB. Additionally, using this algorithm, we found that hydrophobic patches consisting of aliphatic residues had a higher free energy than patches consisting of aromatic residues. By providing the basis for rationally tuning the interface between enzymes and materials, this understanding will transform the use of materials to reliably ruggedize enzymes under extreme conditions.

Thiol-ene photoimmobilization of chymotrypsin on polysiloxane gels for enzymatic peptide synthesis

Chemical incorporation of enzymes onto polymeric materials has recently attracted intense scientific attention. Cross-linked polysiloxane gels as a typical super-hydrophobic support, are a good candidate for supporting enzymes in low-water organic medium to efficiently catalyze peptide synthesis because the hydrophobic polysiloxane matrix can prevent water from attacking the acyl-enzyme intermediate, which is beneficial for the shift in equilibrium to peptide formation. In this work, we develop a facile strategy to photoimmobilize olefin-functionalized chymotrypsin onto cross-linked polysiloxane gels via UV-initiated thiol-ene click chemistry. The impacts of water addition amount, heat-treatment and recyclability of the immobilized chymotrypsin influencing the peptide synthesis efficiency are investigated. Compared with the native chymotrypsin, polysiloxane-immobilized chymotrypsin showed advantageous catalytic activity, higher thermal stability and superior recyclability.

Influence of additives on thermoresponsive polymers in aqueous media: a case study of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)

Thermoresponsive polymers (TRPs) in different solvent media have been studied over a long period and are important from both scientific and technical points of view.

Noncovalent immobilization of cellulases using the reversibly soluble polymers for biopolishing of cotton fabric

The hydrolytic reaction of cellulases can occur in the interior of cellulosic fibers, causing tensile strength loss of the fabrics. Cellulase immobilization is an approach to solve this problem, because enlarging the molecule size of cellulases will limit the hydrolysis to the surfaces of the fibers. In this study, commercial cellulases were noncovalently immobilized onto the reversibly soluble polymers (Eudragit S-100 and Eudragit L-100). The characteristics of cellulase-Eudragit S-100 (CES) and cellulase-Eudragit L-100 (CEL) were evaluated using Fourier transform infrared spectra, circular dichroism spectra, and fluorescence spectra. The CES showed higher stability than CEL and free cellulase, especially at higher pH and temperature. CES and CEL retained 51% and 42% of their original activities after three cycles of repeated uses, respectively. In addition, the effects of cellulase treatment on the cotton yarn and fabric have been investigated. The bending stiffness results showed that the cotton fabric samples treated with the free and immobilized cellulases were softer than untreated samples. However, less fiber damage in terms of weight loss and tensile strength of treated cotton was observed.

Immobilization of the Antarctic Bacillus sp. LX-1 α-Galactosidase on Eudragit L-100 for the Production of a Functional Feed Additive

Partially purified α-galactosidase from Bacillus sp. LX-1 was non-covalently immobilized on a reversibly soluble-insoluble polymer, Eudragit L-100, and an immobilization efficiency of 0.93 was obtained. The optimum pH of the free and immobilized enzyme was 6.5 to 7.0 and 7.0, respectively, while there was no change in optimum temperature between the free and immobilized α-galactosidase. The immobilized α-galactosidase was reutilized six times without significant loss in activity. The immobilized enzyme showed good storage stability at 37°C, retaining about 50% of its initial activity even after 18 d at this temperature, while the free enzyme was completely inactivated. The immobilization of α-galactosidase from Bacillus sp. LX-1 on Eudragit L-100 may be a promising strategy for removal of α-galacto-oligosaccharides such as raffinose and stachyose from soybean meal and other legume in feed industry.

Smart core-shell microgel support for acetyl coenzyme A synthetase: a step toward efficient synthesis of polyketide-based drugs

The flexibility in tuning the structure and charge properties of PNIPAm microgels during their synthesis makes them a suitable choice for various biological applications. Two-step free radical polymerization, a common method employed for synthesis of core-shell microgel has been well adopted to obtain cationic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-aminoethyl methacrylate) (PNIPAm-AEMA) shell and PNIPAm core. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, and ninhydrin assay suggests nearly monodispersed particles of cationic nature. Amino groups on the microgel provides suitable attachment point for covalent immobilization of acetyl coenzyme A synthetase (Acs) via 1-ethyl-3-(3-N,N- dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) chemistry. On immobilization, 61.55% of initial activity of Acs has been retained, while Michaelis-Menten kinetics of the immobilized Acs indicates identical K(m) (Michaelis constant) but decrease in the V(max) (maximum substrate conversion rate) compared to free enzyme. Immobilized Acs shows an improvement in activity at wide temperature and pH range and also demonstrates good thermal, storage, and operational stability. The Acs-microgel bioconjugate has been successfully reused for four consecutive operation cycles with more than 50% initial activity.

Conformational changes of enzymes upon immobilisation

Protein conformation plays a crucial role in determining both the catalytic efficiency and the chemo-, regio- and enantioselectivity of enzymes, thus eventually influencing their exploitability in biotechnological applications. Inevitably, immobilisation processes alter the natural molecular environment of enzymes, and quite often affect their catalytic activity through different mechanisms such as reduced accessibility of the substrate to the catalytic active centre, loss of the enzyme dynamic properties and alteration of the conformational integrity of the enzyme. This tutorial review outlines first the most common spectroscopic techniques used for investigating the conformation of immobilized proteins, and then examines how protein loading and polar and hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions with the carrier affect the structural and dynamic features of enzymes. The nanoscale-level studies in which protein conformational changes, determined either by experimental approaches or by homology modelling, are correlated with the size and shape of the support are also discussed. Altogether, these results should provide useful information on how supports and/or enzymes have to be tailored to improve biocatalyst performance.

Artificial receptor-functionalized nanoshell: facile preparation, fast separation and specific protein recognition

This work combined molecular imprinting technology with superparamagnetic nanospheres as the core to prepare artificial receptor-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles for separation of homologous proteins. Using dopamine as a functional monomer, novel surface protein-imprinted superparamagnetic polydopamine (PDA) core-shell nanoparticles were successfully prepared in physiological conditions, which could maintain the natural structure of a protein template and achieved the development of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) from one dimension to zero dimension for efficient recognition towards large biomolecules. The resultant nanoparticles could be used for convenient magnetic separation of homologous proteins with high specificity. The nanoparticles possessed good monodispersibility, uniform surface morphology and high saturation magnetization value. The bound amounts of template proteins measured by both indirect and direct methods were in good agreement. The maximum number of imprinted cavities on the surface of the bovine hemoglobin (Hb)-imprinted nanoshell was 2.21 x 10(18) g( - 1), which well matched their maximum binding capacity toward bovine Hb. Both the simple method for preparation of MIPs and the magnetic nanospheres showed good application potential in fast separation, effective concentration and selective biosensing of large protein molecules.

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.

Leveraging protein purification strategies in proteomics

The proteomic studies, although, tend to be analytical in nature, yet many strategies of preparative protein purification can be usefully employed in such studies. This review points out the importance of purification techniques which are capable of dealing with samples which are suspensions rather than clear solution, e.g. aqueous two phase partitioning, three phase partitioning, expanded bed chromatography, etc. The review also outlines the potential of non-chromatographic techniques in dealing with fractionation of proteomes. Separation protocols which can deal with post-translationally modified (PTM) proteins are also considered.

Effect of Silk Fibroin Interpenetrating Networks on Swelling/Deswelling Kinetics and Rheological Properties of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Hydrogels

Novel protein/synthetic polymer hybrid interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) with Bombyx mori silk fibroin (SF) have been prepared by using methanol to postinduce SF crystallization. Those IPNs having the beta sheet crystalline structure of SF show improved storage and loss moduli. The IPN hydrogels show the same volume phase transition temperature and NaCl concentration as pure PNIPAAm hydrogels. The PNIPAAm/SF IPNs keep the swelling kinetics of PNIPAAm, while showing increased deswelling kinetics. The IPNs with SF beta sheet structure should decrease the formation of the skin layer observed in conventional PNIPAAm hydrogels. Therefore, the proposed IPN hydrogels composed of protein/polymer provide fast deswelling rates as well as improved mechanical properties over pure PNIPAAm hydrogels. The effect of SF beta sheet networks on the IPNs copolymerized with acrylic acid (AAc) (P(NIPAAm-co-AAc)/SF IPNs) is compared with that on the PNIPAAm/SF IPNs, and the parameters controlling the deswelling kinetics of the IPNs are investigated. Three parameters, (1) the skin layer formation, (2) the restriction of SF beta sheet networks, and (3) the aggregation force of NIPAAm chains, are cooperatively involved in the deswelling process of IPN hydrogels according to the SF content and the presence of the AAc moiety.

Glucose oxidase immobilization on a novel cellulose acetate–polymethylmethacrylate membrane

Glucose oxidase (GOD) was immobilized on cellulose acetate-polymethylmethacrylate (CA-PMMA) membrane. The immobilized GOD showed better performance as compared to the free enzyme in terms of thermal stability retaining 46% of the original activity at 70 degrees C where the original activity corresponded to that obtained at 20 degrees C. FT-IR and SEM were employed to study the membrane morphology and structure after treatment at 70 degrees C. The pH profile of the immobilized and the free enzyme was found to be similar. A 2.4-fold increase in Km value was observed after immobilization whereas Vmax value was lower for the immobilized GOD. Immobilized glucose oxidase showed improved operational stability by maintaining 33% of the initial activity after 35 cycles of repeated use and was found to retain 94% of activity after 1 month storage period. Improved resistance against urea denaturation was achieved and the immobilized glucose oxidase retained 50% of the activity without urea in the presence of 5M urea whereas free enzyme retained only 8% activity.