Omega-3 production by fish oil hydrolysis using a lipase from Burkholderia gladioli BRM58833 immobilized and stabilized by post-immobilization techniques.

Immobilization of lipase from Burkholderia gladioli BRM58833 on octyl sepharose (OCT) resulted in catalysts with higher activity and stability. Following, strategies were studied to further stabilize and secure the enzyme to the support using functionalized polymers, like polyethylenimine (PEI) and aldehyde-dextran (DEXa), to cover the catalyst with layers at different combinations. Alternatively, the construction of a bifunctional layer was studied using methoxypolyethylene glycol amine (NH 2 -PEG) and glycine. The catalyst OCT-PEI-DEXa was the most thermostable, with a 263.8-fold increase in stability when compared to the control condition. When evaluated under alkaline conditions, OCT-DEXa-PEG 10 /Gly was the most stable, reaching stability 70.1 times greater than the control condition. Proportionally, the stabilization obtained for B. gladioli BRM58833 lipase was superior to that obtained for the commercial B. cepacia lipase. Preliminary results in the hydrolysis of fish oil demonstrated the potential of the coating technique with bifunctional polymers, resulting in a stable catalyst with greater catalytic capacity for the production of omega-3 PUFAs. According to the results obtained, it is possible to modulate B. gladioli BRM58833 lipase properties like stability and catalytic activity for enrichment of omega-3 fatty acids.

Ethyl esters production catalyzed by immobilized lipases is influenced by n-hexane and ter-amyl alcohol as organic solvents.

Lipase stability in organic solvent is crucial for its application in many biotechnological processes as biocatalyst. One way to improve lipase's activity and stability in unusual reaction medium is its immobilization on inert supports. Here, lipases from different sources and immobilized through weak chemical interactions on hydrophobic and ionic supports had their transesterification ability dramatically dependent on the support and also on the solvent that had been used. The ethanolysis of sardine oil was carried out at the presence of cyclohexane and tert-amyl alcohol, in which Duolite A568-Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase derivative achieved 49% of ethyl esters production after 24 h in cyclohexane. The selectivity of immobilized lipases was also studied and, after 3 h of synthesis, the reaction with Duolite A568-Thermomyces lanuginosa derivative in cyclohexane produced 24% ethyl ester of eicosapentaenoic acid and 1.2% ethyl ester of docosahexaenoic acid, displaying a selectivity index of 20 times the ethyl ester of eicosapentaenoic acid. Different derivatives of Candida antarctica lipases fraction B (CALB) and phospholipase Lecitase® Ultra (Lecitase) were also investigated. Along these lines, a combination between these factors may be applied to improve the activity and selectivity of immobilized lipases, decreasing the total cost of the process.

Production of Omegas-6 and 9 from the Hydrolysis of Açaí and Buriti Oils by Lipase Immobilized on a Hydrophobic Support.

This paper describes a bioprocess to obtain omegas-6 and 9 from the hydrolysis of Açaí (Euterpe oleracea Martius) and Buriti (Mauritia flexuosa) oils by lipases immobilized on octyl-sepharose. For this, oils and butters were initially selected as the carbon source which resulted in higher production of lipases in Beauveria bassiana and Fusarium oxysporum cultures. The carbon source that provided secretion of lipase by B. bassiana was Açaí oil, and for F. oxysporum, Bacuri butter. Lipases obtained under these conditions were immobilized on octyl-sepharose, and both, the derivatives and the crude extracts were biochemically characterized. It was observed that the immobilization promoted an increase of stability in B. bassiana and F. oxysporum lipase activities at the given temperatures and pH. In addition, the immobilization promoted hyperactivation of B. bassiana and F. oxysporum lipase activities being 23.5 and 11.0 higher than free enzyme, respectively. The hydrolysis of Açaí and Buriti oils by the derivatives was done in a biphasic (organic/aqueous) system, and the products were quantified in RP-HPLC. The results showed the potential of these immobilized lipases to obtain omegas-6 and 9 from Brazilian natural oils. This work may improve the enzymatic methodologies for obtaining foods and drugs enriched with fatty acids.

Xylanase and beta-xylosidase from Penicillium janczewskii: Purification, characterization and hydrolysis of substrates

Background: Xylanases and β-D-xylosidases are the most important enzymes responsible for the degradation of xylan, the second main constituent of plant cell walls. Results: In this study, the main extracellular xylanase (XYL I) and p-xylosidase (BXYL I) from the fungus Penicillium janczewskii were purified, characterized and applied for the hydrolysis of different substrates. Their molecular weights under denaturing and non-denaturing conditions were, respectively, 30.4 and 23.6 kDa for XYL I, and 100 and 200 kDa for BXYL I, indicating that the latter is homodimeric. XYL I is highly glycosylated (78%) with optimal activity in pH 6.0 at 65°C, while BXYL I presented lower sugar content (10.5%) and optimal activity in pH 5.0 at 75°C. The half-lives of XYL I at 55, 60 and 65°C were 125,16 and 6 min, respectively. At 60°C, BXYL I retained almost 100% of the activity after 6 h. NH4+,Na+, DTT and β-mercaptoethanol stimulated XYL I, while activation of BXYL I was not observed. Interestingly, XYL I was only partially inhibited by Hg2+, while BXYL I was completely inhibited. Xylobiose, xylotriose and larger xylooligosaccharides were the main products from xylan hydrolysis by XYL I. BXYL I hydrolyzed xylobiose and larger xylooligosaccharides with no activity against xylans. Conclusion: The enzymes act synergistically in the degradation of xylans, and present industrial characteristics especially in relation to optimal activity at high temperatures, prolonged stability of BXYL I at 60°C, and stability of XYL I in wide pH range.

Hydrophobic adsorption in ionic medium improves the catalytic properties of lipases applied in the triacylglycerol hydrolysis by synergism.

It is known that lipases may have their catalytic properties improved by the action of some salts or by the adsorption on hydrophobic supports. However, what we present in this work is more than that: we evaluate the combination of these two factors of hyperactivation of lipases from Acremonium-like ROG 2.1.9, a study that has not been done so far. This work proves that a synergistic effect occurs when the lipases are immobilized on hydrophobic supports at the presence of sodium chloride and are applied in triacylglycerol hydrolysis. This assay made it possible to achieve the highest hyperactivation of 500 % with the lipases immobilized on Phenyl-Sepharose and applied with 0.1 M of sodium chloride. Besides this positive effect on enzyme activity, the use of these two factors led to the thermal stability increasing of the immobilized lipases. For this derivative, the recovered activity was approximately 85 % after 6 h incubated at 55 °C and 1.0 M of the sodium chloride against 50 % of the same derivative without this salt. Furthermore, others assays were performed to prove the evidences about the synergistic effect, showing a promising method to improve the catalytic properties of the lipases from Acremonium-like ROG 2.1.9.

Co-immobilization of fungal endo-xylanase and α-L-arabinofuranosidase in glyoxyl agarose for improved hydrolysis of arabinoxylan.

Plant cell-wall arabinoxylans have a complex structure that requires the action of a pool of debranching (arabinofuranosidases) and depolymerizing enzymes (endo-xylanase). Two Aspergillus nidulans strains over-secreting endo-xylanase and arabinofuranosidase were inoculated in defined 2% maltose-minimum medium resulting in the simultaneously production of these enzymes. To study the synergistic hydrolysis was used arabinoxylan with 41% of arabinose and 59% of xylose residues. Thus, it was adopted different approaches to arabinoxylan hydrolysis using immobilized arabinofuranosidase and endo-xylanase: (i) endo-xylanase immobilized on glyoxyl agarose; (ii) arabinofuranosidase immobilized on glyoxyl agarose; (T1) hydrolysis of arabinoxylan with arabinofuranosidase immobilized on glyoxyl agarose for debranching, followed by a second hydrolysis with endo-xylanase immobilized on glyoxyl agarose; (T2) hydrolysis using (i) and (ii) simultaneously; and (T3) hydrolysis of arabinoxylan with endo-xylanase and arabinofuranosidase co-immobilized on glyoxyl agarose. It was concluded that arabinoxylan hydrolysis using two derivatives simultaneously (T2) showed greater hydrolytic efficiency and consequently a higher products yield. However, the hydrolysis with multi-enzymatic derivative (T3) results in direct release of xylose and arabinose from a complex substrate as arabinoxylan, which is a great advantage as biotechnological application of this derivative, especially regarding the application of biofuels, since these monosaccharides are readily assimilable for fermentation and ethanol production.

Characterization of a tannase from Emericella nidulans immobilized on ionic and covalent supports for propyl gallate synthesis.

The extracellular tannase from Emericela nidulans was immobilized on different ionic and covalent supports. The derivatives obtained using DEAE-Sepharose and Q-Sepharose were thermally stable from 60 to 75 °C, with a half life (t50) >24 h at 80 °C at pH 5.0. The glyoxyl-agarose and amino-glyoxyl derivatives showed a thermal stability which was lower than that observed for ionic supports. However, when the stability to pH was considered, the derivatives obtained from covalent supports were more stable than those obtained from ionic supports. DEAE-Sepharose and Q-Sepharose derivatives as well as the free enzyme were stable in 30 and 50 % (v/v) 1-propanol. The CNBr-agarose derivative catalyzed complete tannic acid hydrolysis, whereas the Q-Sepharose derivative catalyzed the transesterification reaction to produce propyl gallate (88 % recovery), which is an important antioxidant.

Simple strategy of reactivation of a partially inactivated penicillin g acylase biocatalyst in organic solvent and its impact on the synthesis of beta-lactam antibiotics.

Some reactions of organic synthesis require to be performed in rather aggressive media, like organic solvents, that frequently impair enzyme operational stability to a considerable extent. We have studied the option of developing a reactivation strategy to increase biocatalyst lifespan under such conditions, under the hypothesis that organic solvent enzyme inactivation is a reversible process. Glyoxyl agarose immobilized penicillin G acylase and cross-linked enzyme aggregates of the enzyme were considered as biocatalysts performing in dioxane medium. Reactivation strategy consisted in re-incubation in aqueous medium of the partly inactivated biocatalysts in organic medium, best conditions of reactivation being studied with respect to dioxane concentration and level of enzyme inactivation attained prior to reactivation. Best results were obtained with glyoxyl agarose immobilized penicillin G acylase at all levels of residual activity studied, with reactivations up to 50%; for the case of a biocatalyst inactivated down to 75% of its initial activity, full recovery of enzyme activity was obtained after reactivation. The potential of this strategy was evaluated in the thermodynamically controlled synthesis of deacetoxycephalosporin G in a sequential batch reactor operation, where a 20% increase in the cumulative productivity was obtained by including an intermediate stage of reactivation after 50% inactivation.

One-step purification and characterization of an intracellular beta-glucosidase from Metschnikowia pulcherrima.

A collection of 60 non-Saccharomyces yeasts isolated from grape musts in Uruguayan vineyards was screened for beta-glucosidase activity and Metschnikowia pulcherrima was the best source of this enzyme activity. Its major beta-glucosidase was successfully purified to homogeneity by ion-exchange chromatography on amino-agarose gel. The enzyme exhibited an optimum catalytic activity at 50 degrees C and pH 4.5 and was active against (1 --> 4)-beta and (1 --> 2)-beta glycosidic linkages. In spite of preserving 100% of its activity and stability in the presence of 12% (v/v) ethanol and 5 g glucose/l, the enzyme was unstable below pH 4. We characterized the beta-glucosidase from M. pulcherrima with a view to its potential applications in wine-making.

Crosslinked penicillin acylase aggregates for synthesis of beta-lactam antibiotics in organic medium.

Crosslinked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) of a partially purified penicillin acylase from a recombinant Escherichia coli strain have been produced as a novel type of biocatalysts well endowed to perform in organic media. Different protein precipitants were studied and glutaraldehyde was used as the crosslinking agent. Precipitation curves were obtained for all precipitants to determine the concentrations at which all the protein precipitated out of the solution. The effect of the glutaraldehyde-to-protein ratio was studied with respect to process recovery and the specific activity and stability of the biocatalyst. Recovery of penicillin acylase activity was moderately high, about 50%; major losses of enzyme activity were produced at the precipitation step. Specific activities of all CLEAs were very high, which is one of the advantages of using nonsupported biocatalysts. Ammonium sulfate and tert-butyl alcohol were the best precipitants at a glutaraldehyde-protein mass ratio of 2 and were selected to perform the kinetically controlled synthesis of ampicillin in 60% (v/v) ethylene glycol medium. At comparable conversion yields, volumetric and specific antibiotic productivity were much higher for CLEAs than for carrier-bound penicillin acylases.

Novel bifunctional epoxy/thiol-reactive support to immobilize thiol containing proteins by the epoxy chemistry.

In this manuscript, we present a new bifunctional support containing epoxide and thiol-reactive groups for its use in protein immobilization. In a first step, the proteins are reversibly immobilized by reaction of its thiol groups with the thiol-reactive groups of the support under mild experimental conditions (pH 7.0, 24 degrees C). Then, the remaining epoxides of the support can form irreversible bonds with nucleophile surface groups of the already immobilized protein in a rapid way. The partial derivatization of EP-Sepabeads (a commercial matrix containing 120 micromol epoxy groups/g drained support) was optimized, using dithiotreitol (DTT) as thiolating agent. It was possible to achieve a partial thiolation of the support proportional to the concentration of DTT used (3, 8, and 15 micromol SH groups/g wet support). The remaining epoxide content after the thiolation treatment was high (e.g., nearly 70% for the highest thiolation degree). High immobilization yields were obtained for the three model enzymes selected (60% for Penicillin G acylase, 65% and 100% for K. lactis and E. coli beta-galactosidase, respectively). In all cases, no significant immobilization onto an unmodified epoxy support was found, thus demonstrating that the first step of attachment takes place through thiol-disulfide exchange reactions. In the case of the bifunctional support, progressive formation of enzyme-support attachments involving the epoxy groups was showed by the irreversible covalent attachment of the proteins on the support. The promotion of this multipoint covalent immobilization required long incubation periods at basic pH values.