Innovative surface bio-functionalization by fungal hydrophobins and their engineered variants.

Research on innovative surface functionalization strategies to develop materials with high added value is particularly challenging since this process is a crucial step in a wide range of fields (i.e., biomedical, biosensing, and food packaging). Up to now, the main applied derivatization methods require hazardous and poorly biocompatible reagents, harsh conditions of temperature and pressure, and are time consuming and cost effective. The discovery of biomolecules able to adhere by non-covalent bonds on several surfaces paves the way for their employment as a replacement of chemical processes. A simple, fast, and environment-friendly method of achieving modification of chemically inert surfaces is offered by hydrophobins, small amphiphilic proteins produced by filamentous fungi. Due to their structural characteristics, they form stable protein layers at interfaces, serving as anchoring points that can strongly bind molecules of interest. In addition, genetic engineering techniques allow the production of hydrophobins fused to a wide spectrum of relevant proteins, providing further benefits in term of time and ease of the process. In fact, it is possible to bio-functionalize materials by simply dip-casting, or by direct deposition, rendering them exploitable, for example, in the development of biomedical and biosensing platforms.

A machine learning-enhanced biosensor for mercury detection based on an hydrophobin chimera.

Marine waters are becoming contaminated by diverse pollutants at a fast rate, and detection of these water pollutants has become a major concern in recent years. Among these, mercury is considered the most toxic element for human health. At present, despite the commonly used methods for its detection are accurate, they often require sophisticated equipments, have relatively high costs, are demanding and time-consuming. Herein a novel solution to detect mercury (II) pollution in sea water is proposed, and an easy and portable detection method has been developed. Indeed, a hydrophobin based chimera able to both adhere to polystyrene multiwell plates and bind mercury (II) with a consequent fluorescent decrease was designed. The chimera was the recognition element in a fluorescence-based biosensor able to detect mercury (II) in the nM range. Indeed, this biosensor specifically measure Hg2+ concentration also in the presence of other metals, reaching a limit of detection of 0.4 nM in tap water and 0.3 nM in sea water. Moreover, the developed biosensor was coupled to machine learning methodologies with the big advantage of predicting mercury concentration levels without the use of classical reader devices, thus allowing in situ monitoring of sea pollution by non-skilled personnel.

Multi-product biorefinery from Arthrospira platensis biomass as feedstock for bioethanol and lactic acid production.

With the aim to reach the maximum recovery of bulk and specialty bioproducts while minimizing waste generation, a multi-product biorefinery for ethanol and lactic acid production from the biomass of cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis was investigated. Therefore, the residual biomass resulting from different pretreatments consisting of supercritical fluid extraction (SF) and microwave assisted extraction with non-polar (MN) and polar solvents (MP), previously applied on A. platensis to extract bioactive metabolites, was further valorized. In particular, it was used as a substrate for fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae LPB-287 and Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 43121 to produce bioethanol (BE) and lactic acid (LA), respectively. The maximum concentrations achieved were 3.02 ± 0.07 g/L of BE by the MN process at 120 rpm 30 °C, and 9.67 ± 0.05 g/L of LA by the SF process at 120 rpm 37 °C. An economic analysis of BE and LA production was carried out to elucidate the impact of fermentation scale, fermenter costs, production titer, fermentation time and cyanobacterial biomass production cost. The results indicated that the critical variables are fermenter scale, equipment cost, and product titer; time process was analyzed but was not critical. As scale increased, costs tended to stabilize, but also more product was generated, which causes production costs per unit of product to sharply decrease. The median value of production cost was US$ 1.27 and US$ 0.39, for BE and LA, respectively, supporting the concept of cyanobacterium biomass being used for fermentation and subsequent extraction to obtain ethanol and lactic acid as end products from A. platensis.

Trichoderma harzianum cerato-platanin enhances hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials.

Considering its worldwide abundance, cellulose can be a suitable candidate to replace the fossil oil-based materials, even if its potential is still untapped, due to some scientific and technical gaps. This work offers new possibilities demonstrating for the first time the ability of a cerato-platanin, a small fungal protein, to valorize lignocellulosic Agri-food Wastes. Indeed, cerato-platanins can loosen cellulose rendering it more accessible to hydrolytic attack. The cerato-platanin ThCP from a marine strain of Trichoderma harzianum, characterized as an efficient biosurfactant protein, has proven able to efficiently pre-treat apple pomace, obtaining a sugar conversion yield of 65%. Moreover, when used in combination with a laccase enzyme, a notable increase in the sugar conversion yield was measured. Similar results were also obtained when other wastes, coffee silverskin and potato peel, were pre-treated. With respect to the widespread laccase pre-treatments, this new pre-treatment approach minimizes process time, increasing energy efficiency.

New clues into the self-assembly of Vmh2, a basidiomycota class I hydrophobin.

Hydrophobins are fungal proteins that can self-assemble into amphiphilic films at hydrophobic-hydrophilic interfaces. Class I hydrophobin aggregates resemble amyloid fibrils, sharing some features with them. Here, five site-directed mutants of Vmh2, a member of basidiomycota class I hydrophobins, were designed and characterized to elucidate the molecular determinants playing a key role in class I hydrophobin self-assembly. The mechanism of fibril formation proposed for Vmh2 foresees that the triggering event is the destabilization of a specific loop (L1), leading to the formation of a ß-hairpin, which in turn generates the ß-spine of the amyloid fibril.

Directed evolution of the bacterial endo-ß-1,4-glucanase from Streptomyces sp. G12 towards improved catalysts for lignocellulose conversion.

With the aim to develop biocatalysts for enhanced hydrolysis of (hemi)cellulose into monosaccharides, random diversity by directed evolution was introduced in the gene coding for the endo-ß-1,4-glucanase from Streptomyces sp. G12 which had been recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli and named rCelStrep. The main objectives were therefore to set up a complete strategy for creation and automated screening of rCelStrep evolved direct mutants and to apply it to generate and screen a library of 10,000 random mutants to select the most active variants. The diversity was introduced in the gene by error-prone polymerase chain reaction. A primary qualitative screening on solid plates containing carboxymethylcellulose as the substrate allowed selecting 2200 active clones that were then subjected to a secondary quantitative screening towards AZO-CMC for the selection of 76 improved variants that were cultured in flasks and characterized. Five rCelStrep mutants exhibiting the highest hydrolytic activities than the wild-type enzyme were further characterized and applied to the bioconversion of the pretreated Arundo donax lignocellulosic biomass. It is worth of noting that one of the five tested mutants exhibited a 30% improvement in bioconversion yields compared to the wild-type enzyme, despite the absence of the carbohydrate binding module domain in this variant. Homology models of the three-dimensional structures of the catalytic and binding modules of rCelStrep were obtained and localization of mutations on these models allowed us to speculate on the structure-function relationships of the mutants.

Isolation of new cellulase and xylanase producing strains and application to lignocellulosic biomasses hydrolysis and succinic acid production.

The enzymatic extracellular mixtures of two new microorganisms - Streptomyces flavogriseus AE64X and AE63X - isolated from Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Populus nigra and producing cellulase and xylanase, were characterized and applied to hydrolysis of pretreated Arundo donax, Populus nigra and Panicum virgatum (10% w/v) replacing the commercial enzymes Accelerase 1500 and Accelerase XY (5.4 and 145 U/g of pretreated biomass, respectively). It is worth of noting that the newly developed extracellular enzymatic mixtures, without any purification step and at the same dosage, presented saccharification yields that are higher (86% for S. flavogriseus AE64X) than those of commercial enzymes (81%). Moreover, these enzymatic mixes allowed us to hydrolyse both cellulose and xylan within the different lignocellulose biomasses substituting both the cellulase and xylanase of commercial source. The produced sugars were also fermentable by Basfia succiniciproducens BPP7 into succinic acid with high yield.

Rapid and ultrasensitive detection of active thrombin based on the Vmh2 hydrophobin fused to a Green Fluorescent Protein.

A fusion protein designed in order to combine the fluorescence emission of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) with the adhesion ability of the class I hydrophobin Vmh2 was heterologously produced in the yeast Pichia pastoris. The Vmh2-GFP fusion protein has proven to be a smart and effective tool for the study of Vmh2 self-assembling. Since the two proteins were linked by the specific cutting site of the thrombin, the fusion protein was used as the active biological element in the realization of a thrombin biosensor. When the thrombin present in the target solution specifically hydrolyzed its cleavage sequence, a consequent decrease in the fluorescence intensity of the sample could be observed. The Vmh2-GFP based assay allowed quantification of thrombin in solution with a detection limit of 2.27aM. The specificity of the assay with respect to other proteases and proteins granted the measurement of thrombin added to healthy human plasma with same high sensitivity and a limit of detection of 2.3aM. Further advantages of the developed biosensor are the simplicity of its design and preparation, and the low requirements in terms of samples, reagents and time.

Vmh2 hydrophobin as a tool for the development of "self-immobilizing" enzymes for biosensing.

Self-assembling proteins forming amyloid fibrils are promising candidates for the fabrication of biomaterials, due to the chemical and mechanical stability of their structures. Among potential applications, their use as platforms for enzyme immobilization is rapidly gathering attention. In this work, we demonstrate that the production of the enzyme glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fused to the class I hydrophobin Vmh2 from Pleurotus ostreatus represents an invaluable tool for the development of self-immobilizing enzymes useful for high throughput analyses. The proposed immobilization strategy is versatile since it can be applied, in principle, to every recombinant protein able to refold from Escherichia coli inclusion bodies. A GST based biosensor has been developed to quantify toxic compounds, such as the pesticides molinate and captan, in aqueous environmental samples. The main advantages of this sensor include simplicity and speed of preparation, high sensitivity, reusability, and accuracy. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 46-52. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A novel fluorescence polarization assay for determination of penicillin G in milk.

Detection of penicillin G in milk is of interest because of the wide use of this antibiotic in livestock. Current analytical methods used to quantify the penicillin G in milk are based on HPLC, mass spectrometry and electrophoresis. These methodologies are time-consuming and require trained personnel. In addition, it is not easy to envisage the development of a portable device for in situ analyses based on these methods. We present a novel sensing approach for detecting the presence of penicillin G in milk. The proposed method is based penicillin G conjugate labeled with red-emitting dye with properly produced anti-penicillin G antibodies. The results obtained suggest our method could be applied directly in milk without interference from other substances. The limit of detection of the method was 1.0 nmol/L, which is much less than the required MRL in EU regulations (12.0 nmol/L).

A Fluorescence Polarization Assay To Detect Steroid Hormone Traces in Milk.

Steroids are a class of hormones improperly used in livestock as growth-promoting agents. Due to their high risk for human health, the European Union (EU) has strictly forbidden the administration of all natural and synthetic steroid hormones to food-producing animals, and the development of new rapid detection methods are greatly encouraged. This work reports a novel fluorescence polarization assay, ready to use, capable of detecting 17ß-estradiol directly in milk samples with a low limit of detection of <10 pmol. It is based on the coupling of monospecific antibodies against 17ß-estradiol and fluorophores, capable of modulating the fluorescence polarization emission on the basis of the specific binding of antibodies to fluorescence-labeled 17ß-estradiol derivative. The successful detection of 17ß-estradiol has disclosed the development of an efficient method, easily extensible to any food matrix and having the potential to become a milestone in food quality and safety.

A Rapid and Sensitive Assay for the Detection of Benzylpenicillin (PenG) in Milk.

Antibiotics, such as benzyl-penicillin (PenG) and cephalosporin, are the most common compounds used in animal therapy. Their massive and illegal use in animal therapy and prophylaxis inevitably causes the presence of traces in foods of animal origin (milk and meat), which creates several problems for human health. With the aim to prevent the negative impact of ß-lactam and, in particular, PenG residues present in the milk on customer health, many countries have established maximum residue limits (MRLs). To cope with this problem here, we propose an effective alternative, compared to the analytical methods actually employed, to quantify the presence of penicillin G using the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) method. In particular, the PenG molecule was conjugated to a protein carrier to immunize a rabbit and produce polyclonal antibodies (anti-PenG). The produced antibodies were used as molecular recognition elements for the design of a competitive immune-assay for the detection of PenG by SPR experiments. The detection limit of the developed assay was found to be 8.0 pM, a value much lower than the MRL of the EU regulation limit that is fixed at 12 nM. Thus, our results clearly show that this system could be successfully suitable for the accurate and easy determination of PenG.

A near-infrared fluorescence assay method to detect patulin in food.

Patulin (PAT) is a toxic secondary metabolite (mycotoxin) of different fungal species belonging to the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Byssochlamys. They can grow on a large variety of food, including fruits, grains, and cheese. The amount of PAT in apple derivative products is a crucial issue because it is the measure of the quality of both the used raw products and the performed production process. Actually, all current methodologies used for the quantification of PAT are time-consuming and require skilled personnel beyond the sample pretreatment methods (e.g., high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and electrophoresis techniques). In this work, we present a novel fluorescence polarization approach based on the use of emergent near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence probes. The use of these fluorophores coupled to anti-PAT antibodies makes possible the detection of PAT directly in apple juice without any sample pretreatment. This methodology is based on the increase of fluorescence polarization emission of a fluorescence-labeled PAT derivative on binding to specific antibodies. A competition between PAT and the fluorescence-labeled PAT derivative allowed detecting PAT. The limit of detection of the method is 0.06 µg/L, a value that is lower than maximum residue limit of PAT fixed at 50 µg/L from European Union regulation.

Tryptophan-scanning mutagenesis of the ligand binding pocket in Thermotoga maritima arginine-binding protein.

The Thermotoga maritima arginine binding protein (TmArgBP) is a member of the periplasmic binding protein superfamily. As a highly thermostable protein, TmArgBP has been investigated for the potential to serve as a protein scaffold for the development of fluorescent protein biosensors. To establish a relationship between structural dynamics and ligand binding capabilities, we constructed single tryptophan mutants to probe the arginine binding pocket. Trp residues placed around the binding pocket reveal a strong dependence on fluorescence emission of the protein with arginine for all but one of the mutants. Using these data, we calculated dissociation constants of 1.9-3.3 µM for arginine. Stern-Volmer quenching analysis demonstrated that the protein undergoes a large conformational change upon ligand binding, which is a common feature of this protein superfamily. While still active at room temperature, time-resolved intensity and anisotropy decay data suggest that the protein exists as a highly rigid structure under these conditions. Interestingly, TmArgBP exists as a dimer at room temperature in both the presence and absence of arginine, as determined by asymmetric flow field flow fractionation (AF4) and supported by native gel-electrophoresis and time-resolved anisotropy. Our data on dynamics and stability will contribute to our understanding of hyperthermophilic proteins and their potential biotechnological applications.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of ligand-free and arginine-bound forms of Thermotoga maritima arginine-binding protein.

The arginine-binding protein from Thermotoga maritima (TmArgBP) is an arginine-binding component of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transport system in this hyperthermophilic bacterium. This protein is endowed with an extraordinary stability towards thermal and chemical denaturation. Its structural characterization may provide useful insights for the clarification of structure-stability relationships and for the design of new biosensors. Crystallization trials were set up for both arginine-bound and ligand-free forms of TmArgBP and crystals suitable for crystallographic investigations were obtained for both forms. Ordered crystals of the arginine adduct of TmArgBP could only be obtained by using the detergent LDAO as an additive to the crystallization medium. These crystals were hexagonal, with unit-cell parameters a = 78.2, c = 434.7 Å, and diffracted to 2.7 Å resolution. The crystals of the ligand-free form were orthorhombic, with unit-cell parameters a = 51.8, b = 91.9, c = 117.9 Å, and diffracted to 2.25 Å resolution.