The energetic barrier to single-file water flow through narrow channels.

Various nanoscopic channels of roughly equal diameter and length facilitate single-file diffusion at vastly different rates. The underlying variance of the energetic barriers to transport is poorly understood. First, water partitioning into channels so narrow that individual molecules cannot overtake each other incurs an energetic penalty. Corresponding estimates vary widely depending on how the sacrifice of two out of four hydrogen bonds is accounted for. Second, entropy differences between luminal and bulk water may arise: additional degrees of freedom caused by dangling OH-bonds increase entropy. At the same time, long-range dipolar water interactions decrease entropy. Here, we dissect different contributions to Gibbs free energy of activation, ΔG ‡, for single-file water transport through narrow channels by analyzing experimental results from water permeability measurements on both bare lipid bilayers and biological water channels that (i) consider unstirred layer effects and (ii) adequately count the channels in reconstitution experiments. First, the functional relationship between water permeabilities and Arrhenius activation energies indicates negligible differences between the entropies of intraluminal water and bulk water. Second, we calculate ΔG ‡ from unitary water channel permeabilities using transition state theory. Plotting ΔG ‡ as a function of the number of H-bond donating or accepting pore-lining residues results in a 0.1 kcal/mol contribution per residue. The resulting upper limit for partial water dehydration amounts to 2 kcal/mol. In the framework of biomimicry, our analysis provides valuable insights for the design of synthetic water channels. It thus may aid in the urgent endeavor towards combating global water scarcity.

Double mutation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for enhanced β-D-fructofuranosidase fructohydrolase productivity and application of growth kinetics for parametric significance analysis

Abstract The kinetics of an extracellular β-D-fructofuranosidase fructohydrolase production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a chemically defined medium, i.e., sucrose peptone agar yeast extract at pH 6, was investigated. The wild-type was treated with a chemical mutagen, methyl methane sulfonate. Among the six mutants isolated, methyl methane sulfonate-V was found to be a better enzyme producing strain (52 ± 2.4a U/mL). The maximum production (74 ± 3.1a U/mL) was accomplished after at 48 h (68 ± 2.7a mg/mL protein). The mutants were stabilized at low levels of 5-fluoro-cytocine and the viable ones were further processed for optimization of cultural conditions and nutritional requirements. The sucrose concentration, incubation period and pH were optimized to be 30 g/L, 28 °C, and 6.5, respectively. The methyl methane sulfonate-V exhibited an improvement of over 10 folds in enzyme production when 5 g/L ammonium sulfate was used as a nitrogen source. Thin layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis illustrated the optimal enzyme activity supported by the higher rate of hydrolysis of sucrose into monosaccharides, particularly α-D-glucose and β-D-fructose. The values for Qp (2 ± 0.12c U/mL/h) and Yp/s (4 ± 1.24b U/g) of the mutant were considerably increased in comparison with other yeast strains (both isolates and viable mutants). The mutant could be exploited for enzyme production over a wider temperature range (26–34 °C), with significantly high enzyme activity (LSD 0.048, HS) at the optimal temperature.

Double mutation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for enhanced ß-d-fructofuranosidase fructohydrolase productivity and application of growth kinetics for parametric significance analysis.

The kinetics of an extracellular ß-d-fructofuranosidase fructohydrolase production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a chemically defined medium, i.e., sucrose peptone agar yeast extract at pH 6, was investigated. The wild-type was treated with a chemical mutagen, methyl methane sulfonate. Among the six mutants isolated, methyl methane sulfonate-V was found to be a better enzyme producing strain (52±2.4(a)U/mL). The maximum production (74±3.1(a)U/mL) was accomplished after at 48h (68±2.7(a)mg/mL protein). The mutants were stabilized at low levels of 5-fluoro-cytocine and the viable ones were further processed for optimization of cultural conditions and nutritional requirements. The sucrose concentration, incubation period and pH were optimized to be 30g/L, 28°C, and 6.5, respectively. The methyl methane sulfonate-V exhibited an improvement of over 10 folds in enzyme production when 5g/L ammonium sulfate was used as a nitrogen source. Thin layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis illustrated the optimal enzyme activity supported by the higher rate of hydrolysis of sucrose into monosaccharides, particularly α-d-glucose and ß-d-fructose. The values for Qp (2±0.12(c)U/mL/h) and Yp/s (4±1.24(b)U/g) of the mutant were considerably increased in comparison with other yeast strains (both isolates and viable mutants). The mutant could be exploited for enzyme production over a wider temperature range (26-34°C), with significantly high enzyme activity (LSD 0.048, HS) at the optimal temperature.