Relationships between molecular states (conformation and orientation) and activities of α-amylase adsorbed on ultrafine silica particles

Bacillus subtilis α-amylase, which contains a relatively large amount of α-helix, was adsorbed on two types of ultrafine silica particles (silica-1 and-2, average diameter 15 nm) under various conditions. The changes in circular dichroism (CD) spectra of α-amylase upon adsorption were measured, and the extent of conformational changes was estimated from the reduction in α-helix content. In additions the activities of adsorbed α-amylase were measured at pH 5.2 using corn starch andp-nitrophenylbenzyl α-maltopentaoside (BG5P). In the ultrafine silica-2 particles, the extent of both activity reductions and conformational changes upon adsorption was much larger than that in the ultrafine silica-1 particles and increased with decreasing pH and amount of adsorption. The extent of activity reductions correlated closely with the conformational changes. On the other hand, the effect of reduction in α-amylase activity upon adsorption measured by BG5P was smaller than that measured by starch, indicating that the lack of accessibility of the active site to a large substrate also reduces the activity of adsorbed α-amylase. However, the effects of particle type and adsorption conditions on the extent of activity reductions by the accessibility resistance were small. Therefore, variation of the activity of adsorbed α-amylase is mainly attributable to the extent of conformational changes upon adsorption. Based on these results, a procedure to prepare adsorbed α-amylase with high activity was investigated.     

Circular dichroism studies on conformational changes in protein molecules upon adsorption on ultrafine polystyrene particles

The conformational changes in well-characterized model proteins [bovine ribonuclease A (RNase A), horseradish peroxidase, sperm-whole myoglobin, human hemoglobin, and bovine serum albumin (BSA)] upon adsorption on ultrafine polystyrene (PS) particles have been studied using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. These proteins were chosen with special attention to molecular flexibility. The ultrafine PS particles were negatively charged and have average diameters of 20 or 30 nm. Utilization of these ultrafine PS particles makes it possible to apply the CD technique to determine the secondary structure of proteins adsorbed on the PS surface. Effects of protein properties and adsorption conditions on the extent of the changes in the secondary structure of protein molecules upon adsorption on ultrafine PS particles were studied. The CD spectrum changes upon adsorption were significant in the "soft" protein molecules (myoglobin, hemoglobin, and BSA), while they were insingnificant in the "rigid" proteins (RNase A and peroxidase). The soft proteins sustained a marked decrease in alpha-helix content upon adsorption. Moreover, the native alpha-helix content, which is given as the percentage of the alpha-helix content in the free proteins, of adsorbed BSA was found to decrease with decreasing pH and increase with increasing adsorbed amount. These observations confirm some well-known hypotheses for the confirmational chages in protein molecules upon adsorption. (c) 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Measurement of the secondary structure of adsorbed protein by circular dichroism. 1. Measurements of the helix content of adsorbed melittin.

A new circular dichroism (CD) technique is presented which quantifies, in situ, the changes in protein and peptide secondary structure upon adsorption at the quartz/liquid interface. Far-UV CD spectra of adsorbed proteins were recorded from several quartz interfaces contained in a specially constructed cell. Adsorbed, oriented alpha-helical spectra were recorded from hydrophilic and hydrophobic quartz using the bee venom peptide, melittin, which can be induced into an alpha-helical, tetrameric conformation in solution. The hydrophobic quartz provides a model system for oil-in-water emulsions and cell membranes. Surface concentrations were determined by radio-counting and were dependent on the nature of the surface. The characterization of these spectra has been partly achieved using far-UV CD spectra obtained from melittin adsorbed onto hydrophilic colloidal silica particles, where orientation effects are eliminated. Analysis of these spectra reveals considerable denaturation of the helical structures upon adsorption. Surface concentrations from the silica were determined from adsorption isotherms. The surface orientation of adsorbed melittin was dependent on the state of aggregation and hence degree of helicity of the molecule. These results support a model for the mode of action of melittin in lysing membranes.     

Use of a novel affinity tag selected with a bacterial random peptide library for improving activity retention of glutathione S-transferase adsorbed on a polystyrene surface

Aiming at developing a novel affinity tag for site-specific immobilization of functional proteins onto polystyrene (PS) surfaces, Escherichia coli random peptide display library was screened for dodecapeptides exhibiting a high affinity toward PS plates. The selected peptides were commonly rich in hydrophobic amino acid residues and had two or three basic amino acid residues. Adsorption and desorption experiments for one of the selected peptide named PS1 (KGLRGWREMISL) showed that it was well and irreversibly adsorbed onto PS latex particles. To study its performance as an affinity tag, PS1 was genetically fused to a model enzyme, glutathione S-transferase (GST), in several manners, and the fusion enzymes were compared to the original GST in terms of the adsorption behavior onto the PS latex particles as well as the specific activities before and after the adsorption. The fusion GSTs in solution showed lower specific activities than the original one, and their adsorption behaviors were also altered. In particular, the fusion of PS1 to the N-terminal region of GST resulted in severe losses both in the specific activity and in the adsorptive ability. However, two types of GSTs fused with PS1 at the C-terminal region were well adsorbed onto the PS latex particles, and their specific activities after the adsorption were significantly higher than the original GST adsorbed on the PS latex particles. The fusion of PS1 to the C-terminal region of GST was thus shown to reduce the activity loss upon the adsorption onto the PS latex particles.     

Reversible enzyme immobilization via a very strong and nondistorting ionic adsorption on support-polyethylenimine composites

New tailor-made anionic exchange resins have been prepared, based on films of large polyethylenimine polymers (e.g., MW 25,000) completely coating, via covalent immobilization, the surface of different porous supports (agarose, silica, polymeric resins). Most proteins contained in crude extracts from different sources have been very strongly adsorbed on them. Ionic exchange properties of such composites strongly depend on the size of polyethylenimine polymers as well as on the exact conditions of the covalent coating of the solids with the polymer. On the contrary, similar coating protocols yield similar matrices by using different porous supports as starting material. For example, 77% of all proteins contained in crude extracts from Escherichia coli were adsorbed, at low ionic strength, on the best matrices, and less than 15% of the adsorbed proteins were eluted from the support in the presence of 0.3 M NaCl. Under these conditions, 100% of the adsorbed proteins were eluted from conventional DEAE supports. Such polyethylenimine-support composites were also very suitable to perform very strong and nondistorting reversible immobilization of industrial enzymes. For example, lipase from Candida rugosa (CRL), beta-galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae and D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) from Rhodotorula gracilis, were adsorbed on such matrices in a few minutes at pH 7.0 and 4 degrees C. Immobilized enzymes preserved 100% of catalytic activity and remained fully immobilized in 0.2 M NaCl. In addition to that, CRL and DAAO were highly stabilized upon immobilization. Stabilization of DAAO, a dimeric enzyme, seems to be due to the involvement of both enzyme subunits in the ionic adsorption.     

Purification, immobilization and stabilization of a highly enantioselective alcohol dehydrogenase from Thermus thermophilus HB27 cloned in E. coli

This paper shows the purification and immobilization of a very interesting thermophilic alcohol dehydrogenase from Thermus thermophilus HB27 cloned in Escherichia coli. The purification was based on a first thermal treatment of the crude extract, that leaves the target enzyme in the supernatant, followed by the adsorption of most contaminant proteins in a IMAC column (the target protein did not adsorb on these columns due to the poorness of His residues). Final purification factor was around a 9-fold factor (no other protein bands were detected in SDS-PAGE gels) with an overall yield around 80%. Covalent immobilization of the enzyme on very different supports only permitted to improve the enzyme stability by a 5–10-fold factor, very similarly to the results obtained by the adsorption of the enzyme on polyethyleneimine coated supports. This enzyme adsorbed by ionic exchange maintained the activity unaltered during immobilization which was a very rapid process, and was more stable than the covalent preparations in the presence of organic solvents, and the enzyme was quite strongly adsorbed on the support. Therefore, it was proposed as a good option to prepare industrial biocatalysts of the enzyme. This preparation was utilized in the asymmetric reduction of acetophenone to produce (S)-(−)-1-phenylethanol, with an enantiomeric excess of more than 99%.     

Heterofunctional supports for the one-step purification,immobilization and stabilization of large multimeric enzymes: Amino-glyoxyl versus amino-epoxy supports

For the immobilization-stabilization of multimeric enzymes, we propose a novel heterofunctional support containing a very low concentration of ionized amino groups and a very high concentration of very poorly reactive glyoxyl (aldehyde) groups. A large tetrameric enzyme, β-galactosidase from Thermus sp., was purified and dramatically stabilized with this novel support. The enzyme was first immobilized by physical adsorption via selective multipoint anionic exchange involving the largest region of the enzyme containing all enzyme subunits. Then, an additional long incubation of the immobilized derivative under alkaline conditions was performed in order to promote an intense intramolecular multipoint covalent attachment between amino groups of the adsorbed enzyme and the very stable glyoxyl groups on the support. This novel β-galactosidase derivative is the first one in which the four subunits of this enzyme become attached to a pre-existing support. Additionally, the novel amino-glyoxyl supports were much more suitable than amino-epoxy supports for intramolecular multipoint covalent immobilization of the adsorbed enzyme onto the support. In fact, at pH 7.0, the new supports covalently immobilize the physically adsorbed protein 24-fold more rapidly than epoxy supports. Furthermore, derivatives prepared on amino-glyoxyl supports preserved 85% of catalytic activity and were 5-fold more stable than derivatives prepared on amino-epoxy supports and more than 1000-fold more stable than soluble enzyme.     

A novel heterofunctional epoxy-amino sepabeads for a new enzyme immobilization protocol: immobilization-stabilization of beta-galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae

The properties of a new and commercially available amino-epoxy support (amino-epoxy-Sepabeads) have been compared to conventional epoxy supports to immobilize enzymes, using the beta-galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae as a model enzyme. The new support has a layer of epoxy groups over a layer of ethylenediamine that is covalently bound to the support. This support has both a great anionic exchanger strength and a high density of epoxy groups. Epoxy supports require the physical adsorption of the proteins onto the support before the covalent binding of the enzyme to the epoxy groups. Using conventional supports the immobilization rate is slow, because the adsorption is of hydrophobic nature, and immobilization must be performed using high ionic strength (over 0.5 M sodium phosphate) and a support with a fairly hydrophobic nature. Using the new support, immobilization may be performed at moderately low ionic strength, it occurs very rapidly, and it is not necessary to use a hydrophobic support. Therefore, this support should be specially recommended for immobilization of enzymes that cannot be submitted to high ionic strength. Also, both supports may be expected to yield different orientations of the proteins on the support, and that may result in some advantages in specific cases. For example, the model enzyme became almost fully inactivated when using the conventional support, while it exhibited an almost intact activity after immobilization on the new support. Furthermore, enzyme stability was significantly improved by the immobilization on this support (by more than a 12-fold factor), suggesting the promotion of some multipoint covalent attachment between the enzyme and the support (in fact the enzyme adsorbed on an equivalent cationic support without epoxy groups was even slightly less stable than the soluble enzyme).     

Immobilization and stabilization of α-galactosidase on Sepabeads EC-EA and EC-HA

α-Galactosidase from tomato has been immobilized on Sepabead EC-EA and Sepabead EC-HA, which were activated with ethylendiamino and hexamethylenediamino groups, respectively. Two strategy was used for the covalent immobilization of α-galactosidase on the aminated Sepabeads: covalent immobilization of enzyme on glutaraldehyde activated support and cross-linking of the adsorbed enzymes on to the support with glutaraldehyde. By using these two methods, all the immobilized enzymes retained very high activity and the stability of the enzyme was also improved. The obtained results showed that, the most stable immobilized α-galactosidase was obtained with the second strategy. The immobilized enzymes were characterized with respect to free counterpart. Some parameters effecting to the enzyme activity and stability were also analyzed. The optimum temperature and pH were found as 60 °C and pH 5.5 for all immobilized enzymes, respectively. All the immobilized α-galactosidases were more thermostable than the free enzyme at 50 °C. The stabilities of the Sepabead EC-EA and EC-HA adsorbed enzymes treated with glutaraldehyde compared to the stability of the free enzyme were a factor of 6 for Sepabead EC-EA and 5.3 for Sepabead EC-HA. Both the free and immobilized enzymes were very stable between pH 3.0 and 6.0 and more than 85% of the initial activities were recovered. Under the identical storage conditions the free enzyme lost its initial activity more quickly than the immobilized enzymes at the same period of time. The immobilized α-galactosidase seems to fulfill the requirements for different industrial applications.     

Versatility of glutaraldehyde to immobilize lipases: Effect of the immobilization protocol on the properties of lipase B from Candida antarctica

Glutaraldehyde chemistry has been used to immobilize lipase B from Candida antarctica (CALB) under different situations. Using high ionic strength, ionic adsorption is avoided, but CALB is adsorbed on the support via interfacial activation. Using non-ionic detergents (e.g., Triton X-100), the enzyme becomes ionically adsorbed on the activated support. If detergent and salt are simultaneously present during immobilization, a covalent attachment to the support is first produced. In absence of detergent or high ionic strength, a mixture of all of the previous immobilization reasons should coexist. Thus, 5 different CALB biocatalysts were prepared following the previous described protocols, and its stability and activity, pH/activity profile and specificity versus R and S methyl mandelate were analyzed. The existence of covalent attachment of more than 95% of the enzyme molecules was confirmed by washing the biocatalysts in salt and detergent solutions. The glutaraldehyde treatment of the enzyme adsorbed on aminated supports did not produce a significant improvement on the activity of the enzyme versus p-nitrophenylpropinate (pNPB) nor a high stabilization of the enzyme. This differed from the effects of a similar treatment of CAL adsorbed on octyl agarose. However, they were similar to the effects of this treatment on covalently immobilized CALB, suggesting that the immobilization protocol may greatly affect the final effect of a chemical modification on the enzyme properties.Dramatic changes in the enzyme features were observed comparing the different preparations, mainly in the specificity of CALB versus p-NPB and R-methyl mandelate (from 2.5 to 20), or in the enantiospecificity versus R/S methyl mandelate (from 1.8 to 16), confirming that these different immobilization protocols produced biocatalysts with different features. Moreover, changes in experimental conditions produced very different effects on the properties of the different CALB preparations.     

High-yield method for immobilization of enzymes

Two types of polyethylenimine-coated glass microbeads (13–44 μm) were synthesized and used for the immobilization of glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger and catalase from A. niger and beef liver. The two types of beads were distinguishable by differences in their surface topography. Immobilizations were performed by adsorption followed by treatment with glutaraldehyde. The immobilized-enzyme activities per unit support of all of the enzymes tested were compared with and found to be superior to the immobilized activities attainable on aminopropyl-activated glass microbeads. When enzyme was present in less than saturating amounts, the coated beads were able to remove 100% of the glucose oxidase activity initially present in the immobilization solution, with 78–87% of that activity expressed on the support surface. Bound glucose oxidase was more stable to thermal inactivation than native enzyme.     

Activity and stability of chemically modified Candida antarctica lipase B adsorbed on solid supports

The effect of various covalent chemical modifications on the transesterification activity and stability of adsorbed lipase B from Candida antarctica (CALB) was studied in 2-butanone and o-xylene. CALB species modified with either polyethylene glycol 2000 monomethyl ether (MPEG), polyethylene glycol 300 mono-octyl ether (OPEG) or n-octanol (OCT) were used in combination with a hydrophobic (Accurel) and a hydrophilic (Duolite) support. The thermostabilities of adsorbed CALB in both solvents, and that of free CALB in o-xylene were not influenced by the modifications. In contrast, the thermostability of free CALB in 2-butanone decreased 2.5-fold after MPEG modification and increased 1.5-fold after modification with OPEG and n-octanol, compared to that of native CALB. The activities of the native and modified CALB species were up to 9-fold higher after adsorption onto Accurel than those of the corresponding free enzymes. Adsorption of these enzyme species onto Duolite only resulted in a 2- to 3-fold increase in the activity of OPEG- and OCT-modified CALB. The modified CALB species adsorbed onto Accurel show similar or up to 2-fold lower activities than do native adsorbed CALB species, while 1.5- to 6-fold higher activities were found for modified CALB species adsorbed onto Duolite. We propose that hydrophobic modifiers induce conformational changes of CALB during adsorption on a hydrophobic support whereas all three modifiers protect CALB from structural alterations during adsorption onto a hydrophilic support. Received: 18 March 1999 / Received revision: 21 June 1999 / Accepted: 27 June 1999     

Simultaneous purification and immobilization of Aspergillus niger xylanase on the reversibly soluble polymer Eudragit(TM) L-100

The non-covalent immobilization of a commercial preparation of xylanase from A. niger was carried out on a reversibly soluble-insoluble enteric polymer Eudragit(TM) L-100. The immobilization of the xylanase activity by adsorption was simultaneously accompanied by removal of cellulase activity since the latter did not bind to the polymer. Thus, the soluble enzyme derivative may be useful for treatment of paper pulp bleaching in paper industry. The immobilized xylanase retained 60% of its activity toward xylan as the substrate. No change was observed in the pH optimum (5.5) of the enzyme upon immobilization. Only marginal increase in the K(m) of the free enzyme (3.6 mg ml(-1) to 5.0 mg ml(-1)) upon immobilization on the soluble polymer reflected that the enzyme-substrate binding continues to be efficient in spite of the macromolecular nature of the substrate. Fluorescence spectroscopy and UV difference spectroscopy were used to probe the change(s) in the enzyme structure upon immobilization. This change in structure was correlated with the "effectiveness factor" of the enzyme activity. CD spectra also showed that the enzyme undergoes drastic changes in the structure.     

Immobilization of microbial protease on vermiculite

Vermiculite, an inert and cheap solid support material, was used in the immobilization of protease by adsorption. Adsorption of protease on vermiculite saturated with potassium, calcium and aluminium was studied. Aluminium saturated vermiculite adsorbed maximum amount of enzyme at pH 6.5. The maximum adsorption of enzyme on cationic vermiculite occurred within one hour at 30°C. When the temperature was increased there was a two fold increase in the adsorption of the enzyme. From the Freundlich isotherm data, the values of k and n were computed.     

Immobilization of lipase on hydrophobic nano-sized magnetite particles

As a tool for the stable enzyme reuse, enzyme immobilization has been studied for several decades. Surface-modified nano-sized magnetite (S-NSM) particles have been suggested as a support for the immobilization of enzyme in this study. Based on the finding that a lipase is strongly adsorbed onto a hydrophobic surface, NSM particles (8–12 nm) were made hydrophobic by binding of sodium dodecyl sulfate via a sulfate ester bond. Various types of measurements, such as transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, vibration sample magnetometer, and thermo gravimetric analysis, were conducted in characterizing S-NSM nanoparticles. S-NSM particles were used for the adsorption of porcine pancreas lipase (PPL). A dodecyl carbon chain is expected to form a spacer between the surface of the NSM and the lipase adsorbed. The immobilized PPL showed the higher specific activity of oil hydrolysis than that of free one. Immobilized PPL could be recovered by magnetic separation, and showed the constant activity during the recycles.     

Evaluation of a silica-coated magnetic nanoparticle for the immobilization of a His-tagged lipase

Magnetic particles of size 10 nm have been coated with silica to a mean diameter of 40 nm and charged with Cu²⁺ ions via a multidentate ligand, iminodiacetic acid (IDA), for the immobilization of His-tagged Bacillus stearothermopilus L1 lipase. Microporous (average pore diameter of 60 Å) silica gel with a mean particle diameter of 115 µm has been used as a comparative support material. The molar ratio of Cu²⁺ to IDA was found to be 1:1.14 and 1:1.99 in the silica gel and the silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles (SiMNs), respectively. The specific activity of the immobilized enzyme was found to conform to the following order: Cu²⁺-charged SiMN>SiMN>Cu²⁺-charged silica gel>silica gel. When it was immobilized on the Cu²⁺-charged SiMNs, over 70% of the initial activity of the lipase remained after it had been reused five times. However, only 20% of the initial activity remained after the enzyme immobilized on the Cu²⁺-charged silica gel had been reused five times. For the enzyme immobilized on supports without Cu²⁺ cations, all activity was lost after threefold reuse. The differences in the specific activities and the efficiencies of reuse of the enzymes immobilized on the various support materials are discussed in terms of immobilization mechanisms (physical adsorption vs. coordination bonding), mass transfer of a substrate and a product of the enzyme reaction, and the status of the Cu (Cu bound to the IDA on the silica layer vs. Cu directly adsorbed on the silica layer).     

Synthesis of silica particles and their application as supports for alcohol dehydrogenases and cofactor immobilizations: Conformational changes that lead to switch in enzyme stereoselectivity

FTIR, circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence spectroscopies were used to characterize conformational changes in horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (HLADH) and ketoreductase (KRED 117) upon physical and covalent immobilizations on silica particles (functionalized with amino, epoxy and thiol groups) of different sizes. Conformational changes for immobilized enzymes were associated with high and low frequency shifts of the amide I and II bands. CD spectra of native HLADH and KRED 117 characterized with a negative peak at 222nm indicating a α-helical structure. The disappearance of the negative peak in the CD spectra of immobilized enzymes and appearance of a positive peak at 222nm supported these observations. These findings demonstrated unfolding of folded enzymes and exposure of the amino acid residues during denaturation with a red shift in tryptophan fluorescence. The decrease in specific activities (by 60-70% in all cases) for both immobilized enzymes was correlated to those of conformational changes. Silica-attached enzyme-NADH systems were evaluated for enantioselective reduction of 1-(p-methoxyphenyl)-propan-2-one. Conformational changes enhanced the enantioselectivity of immobilized HLADH with a switch in its stereoselectivity. In the case of immobilized KRED 117, kinetic values (V(max) and K(m)) were lower than that of the free enzyme, without enhancing enzyme enantio- and stereoselectivity.     

Enzyme stabilization by glutaraldehyde crosslinking of adsorbed proteins on aminated supports

The stabilization achieved by different immobilization protocols have been compared using three different enzymes (glutaryl acylase (GAC), D-aminoacid oxidase (DAAO), and glucose oxidase (GOX)): adsorption on aminated supports, treatment of this adsorbed enzymes with glutaraldehyde, and immobilization on glutaraldehyde pre-activated supports. In all cases, the treatment of adsorbed enzymes on amino-supports with glutaraldehyde yielded the higher stabilizations: in the case of GOX, a stabilization over 400-fold was achieved. After this treatment, the enzymes could no longer be desorbed from the supports using high ionic strength (suggesting the support-protein reaction). Modification of the enzymes immobilized on supports that did not offer the possibility of react with glutaraldehyde showed the same stability that the non modified preparations demonstrating that the mere chemical modification did not have effect on the enzyme stability. This simple strategy seems to permit very good results in terms of immobilization rate and stability, offering some advantages when compared to the immobilization on glutaraldehyde pre-activated supports.     

Immobilization of perfluoroalkylated enzymes in a biologically active state onto Perflex support.

Perflex has been introduced by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc., as a new fluorocarbon-based technology for protein immobilization. Due to the hydrophobic character of the support, however, significant loss of enzymatic activity may occur upon immobilization of certain enzymes, which appears to be due to a large conformational change of the protein ("inversion"). Pretreatment of the Perflex support with a neutral fluorosurfactant lessened the surface hydrophobicity, thus decreasing the hydrophobic interaction between the support and the protein. Modification of enzymes with a high number of fluorocarbon residues, which forms a hydrophobic "envelope" around the protein, also appears to prevent enzyme inactivation upon immobilization on Perflex support. Moreover, preactivation of the support with either perfluorooctylpropylisocyanate or reactive poly(fluoroalkyl) sugar reagents greatly improves the enzyme particle activity by increasing the amount of immobilized enzyme. Fluorosurfactant treatment of the support activated with perfluorooctylpropylisocyanate improves the retention of activity for sensitive enzymes such as alpha-chymotrypsin and increases the wetability and ease of handling of the Perflex particles.     

In situ structure and activity studies of an enzyme adsorbed on spectroscopically undetectable particles

The structural characteristics and the activity of a hyperthermophilic endoglucanase were investigated upon adsorption. Silica (hydrophilic) and Teflon (hydrophobic) surfaces were selected for the study. The materials were specially designed so that the interaction of the particles with light was negligible, and the enzyme conformation in the adsorbed state was monitored in situ. The adsorption isotherms were determined, and the adsorbed endoglucanase was studied using a number of spectroscopic techniques, enzymatic activity tests, and dynamic light scattering. Experiments were performed at pH values below, at, and above the isoelectric point of the enzyme. It was shown that the enzyme adsorbed on the hydrophobic surface of Teflon with higher affinity as compared to the hydrophilic silica nanoparticles. In all cases, adsorption was followed by (slight) changes in the secondary structure resulting in decreased beta-structural content. The changes were more profound upon adsorption on Teflon. The adsorbed enzyme remained active in the adsorbed state in spite of the structural changes induced when interacting with the surfaces.