Recent Advances in Electrochemical Enzyme-Based Biosensors for Food and Beverage Analysis.

Food analysis and control are crucial aspects in food research and production in order to ensure quality and safety of food products. Electrochemical biosensors based on enzymes as the bioreceptors are emerging as promising tools for food analysis because of their high selectivity and sensitivity, short analysis time, and high-cost effectiveness in comparison to conventional methods. This review provides the readers with an overview of various electrochemical enzyme-based biosensors in food analysis, focusing on enzymes used for different applications in the analysis of sugars, alcohols, amino acids and amines, and organic acids, as well as mycotoxins and chemical contaminants. In addition, strategies to improve the performance of enzyme-based biosensors that have been reported over the last five years will be discussed. The challenges and future outlooks for the food sector are also presented.

Electrochemical and biosensing properties of an FAD-dependent glucose dehydrogenase from Trichoderma virens.

We investigated the bioelectrochemical properties of an FAD-dependent glucose dehydrogenase from Trichoderma virens (TvGDH) and its electrochemical behaviour when immobilized on a graphite electrode. TvGDH was recently shown to have an unusual substrate spectrum and to prefer maltose over glucose as substrate, and hence could be of interest as recognition element in a maltose sensor. In this study, we determined the redox potential of TvGDH, which is -0.268 ± 0.007 V vs. SHE, and advantageously low to be used with many redox mediators or redox polymers. The enzyme was entrapped in, and wired by an osmium redox polymer (poly(1-vinylimidazole-co-allylamine)-{[Os(2,2'-bipyridine)2Cl]Cl}) with formal redox potential of +0.275 V vs. Ag|AgCl via poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether crosslinking onto a graphite electrode. When the TvGDH-based biosensor was tested with maltose it showed a sensitivity of 1.7 µA mM-1cm-2, a linear range of 0.5-15 mM, and a detection limit of 0.45 mM. Furthermore, it gave the lowest apparent Michaelis-Menten constant (KM app) of 19.2 ± 1.5 mM towards maltose when compared to other sugars. The biosensor is also able to detect other saccharides including glucose, maltotriose and galactose, these however also interfere with maltose sensing.

Characterization of Fungal FAD-Dependent AA3_2 Glucose Oxidoreductases from Hitherto Unexplored Phylogenetic Clades.

The CAZy auxiliary activity family 3 (AA3) comprises FAD-dependent enzymes belonging to the superfamily of glucose-methanol-choline (GMC) oxidoreductases. Glucose oxidase (GOx; EC 1.1.3.4) and glucose dehydrogenase (GDH; EC 1.1.5.9) are part of subfamily AA3_2 and catalyze the oxidation of ß-D-glucose at its anomeric carbon to D-glucono-1,5-lactone. Recent phylogenetic analysis showed that AA3_2 glucose oxidoreductases can be grouped into four major clades, GOx I and GDH I-III, and in minor clades such as GOx II or distinct subclades. This wide sequence space of AA3_2 glucose oxidoreductases has, however, not been studied in detail, with mainly members of GOx I and GDH I studied biochemically or structurally. Here, we report the biochemical characterization of four fungal glucose oxidoreductases from distinct, hitherto unexplored clades or subclades. The enzyme from Aureobasidium subglaciale, belonging to the minor GOx II clade, showed a typical preference for oxygen and glucose, confirming the correct annotation of this clade. The other three enzymes exhibited strict dehydrogenase activity with different substrate specificities. GDH II from Trichoderma virens showed an almost six-fold higher catalytic efficiency for maltose compared to glucose. The preferred substrate for the two GDH III enzymes from Rhizoctonia solani and Ustilago maydis was gentiobiose, a ß(1→6) disaccharide, as judged from the catalytic efficiency. Overall, the newly studied AA3_2 glucose oxidoreductases showed a much broader substrate spectrum than the archetypal GOx from Aspergillus niger, which belongs to clade GOx I.