Characterization and properties of catalase immobilized onto controlled pore glass and its application in batch and plug-flow type reactors

Bovine liver catalase was covalently immobilized onto controlled pore glass (CPG) beads modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (3-APTES) followed by treatment with glutaraldehyde. Coupling of catalase onto CPG was optimized to improve the efficiency of the overall immobilization procedure. The optimum coupling conditions: pore diameter of CPG, pH, buffer concentration, temperature, coupling time and initial catalase amount per grams of carrier were determined as 70 nm, 6.0, 75 mM, 5 °C, 7 h and 6 mg catalase, respectively. Catalytic efficiencies (k_cat/K_m) and thermal inactivation rate constants (k_i) of ICPG1 were determined and compared with that of free catalase. Suitability of ICPG1 was also investigated by using it in batch and plug-flow type reactors. When the remaining activity of ICPG1 retained was about 50% of its initial activity the highest total productivity of ICPG1 was determined as 7.6 × 10⁶ U g immobilized catalase⁻¹ in plug-flow type reactor. However, the highest total productivity of ICPG1 was 6.2 × 10⁵ U g immobilized catalase⁻¹ in batch type reactor. ICPG1 may have great potentials as biocatalyst for the application in decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in plug-flow type reactor.     

Simultaneous and sequential co-immobilization of glucose oxidase and catalase onto florisil

The co-immobilization of Aspergillus niger glucose oxidase (GOD) with bovine liver catalase (CAT) onto florisil (magnesium silicate-based porous carrier) was investigated to improve the catalytic efficiency of GOD against H2O2 inactivation. The effect of the amount of bound CAT on the GOD activity was also studied for 12 different initial combinations of GOD and CAT, using simultaneous and sequential coupling. The sequentially co-immobilized GOD-CAT showed a higher efficiency than the simultaneously co-immobilized GOD-CAT in terms of the GOD activity and economic costs. The highest activity was shown by the sequentially co-immobilized GOD-CAT when the initial amounts of GOD and CAT were 10 mg and 5 mg per gram of carrier. The optimum pH, buffer concentration, and temperature for GOD activity for the same co-immobilized GOD-CAT sample were then determined as pH 6.5, 50 mM, and 30 degrees C, respectively. When compared with the individually immobilized GOD, the catalytic activity of the co-immobilized GOD-CAT was 70% higher, plus the reusability was more than two-fold. The storage stability of the co-immobilized GOD-CAT was also found to be higher than that of the free form at both 5 degrees C and 25 degrees C. The increased GOD activity and reusability resulting from the co-immobilization process may have been due to CAT protecting GOD from inactivation by H2O2 and supplying additional O2 to the reaction system.     

Immobilization of laccase onto spacer-arm attached non-porous poly(GMA/EGDMA) beads: application for textile dye degradation

Non-porous poly(glycidyl methacrylate/ethyleneglycol dimetacrylate) (poly(GMA/EGDMA)) beads were prepared by suspension polymerization. The enzyme (i.e. laccase) was covalently immobilized onto plain and spacer-arm attached poly(GMA/EGDMA) beads. The amount of immobilized enzyme on the plain and spacer-arm attached beads was determined as 5.6 and 4.9 mg/g, respectively. The maximum activity (V(max)) and Michaelis constant (K(m)) of laccase immobilized on the spacer-arm attached beads, were found to be 77.6 U/min and 0.47 mM, respectively. Finally, the immobilized laccase was operated in a batch system, and textile dye Reactive Red 120 was successfully decolorized in the enzyme reactor.     

Covalent protein immobilization on glass surfaces: application to alkaline phosphatase

Lyophilized alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) was immobilized on aminated glass surfaces using the in vacuo cross-linking process [Simons, B.L., King, M.C., Cyr, T., Hefford, M.A., Kaplan, H., 2002. Zero-length cross-linking of lyophilized proteins. Protein Sci. 11, 1558-1564]. In this procedure, amide bonds were formed between carboxyl groups on the protein and amino groups on the glass surface. After the non-covalently attached enzyme was removed the immobilized ALPase not only retained its activity but could also be used, washed and reused at least six times without significant loss of activity. An average of 1.4+/-0.6 mg of reusable ALPase per gram of glass fibre was immobilized based on the activity of the soluble equivalent.     

Kinetic properties and storage stability of catalase immobilized on to florisil

The covalent immobilization of bovine liver catalase (CAT) on to florisil via glutaraldehyde was investigated. Optimum immobilization pH and temperature were determined as pH 6.0, 10 degrees C respectively, while the amount of initial CAT per g of carrier and immobilization time was determined as 5 mg g(-1) and 120 min, respectively. The Vmax values for free and immobilized CAT were found to be 1.7 x 10(5) and 2.0 x 10(4) micromol H2O2 min(-1) mg protein(-1), respectively, whereas KM values were 33.3 mM and 1722.0 mM respectively. Operational stability was determined by using a stirred batch-type column reactor. Immobilized CAT retained about 40% of its initial activity after 50 uses. It showed higher storage stability than free CAT at 4 degrees C and 25 degrees C. Its storage stability increased with increasing relative humidity (RH) from 0 to 20% of the medium. The highest storage stability was obtained in 20% RH, however, further increase in RH from 40 to 100% significantly decreased the storage stability.     

Immobilization of catalase onto Eupergit C and its characterization

Bovine liver catalase was covalently immobilized onto Eupergit C. Optimum conditions of immobilization: pH, buffer concentration, temperature, coupling time and initial catalase amount per gram of carrier were determined as 7.5, 1.0 M, 25 °C, 24 h and 4.0 mg/g, respectively. V_max and K_m were determined as 1.4(±0.2) × 10⁵ U/mg protein and 28.6 ± 3.6 mM, respectively, for free catalase, and as 3.7(±0.4) × 10³ U/mg protein and 95.9 ± 0.6 mM, respectively, for immobilized catalase. The thermal stability of the immobilized catalase in terms of half-life time (29.1 h) was comparably higher than that of the free catalase (9.0 h) at 40 °C. Comparison of storage stabilities showed that the free catalase completely lost its activity at the end of 11 days both at room temperature and 5 °C. However, immobilized catalase retained 68% of its initial activity when stored at room temperature and 79% of its initial activity when stored at 5 °C at the end of 28 days. The highest reuse number of immobilized catalase was 22 cycles of batch operation when 40 mg of immobilized catalase loaded into the reactor retaining about 50% of its original activity. In the plug flow type reactor, the longest operation time was found as 82 min at a substrate flow rate of 2.3 mL/min when the remaining activity of 40 mg immobilized catalase was about 50% of its original activity. The resulting immobilized catalase onto Eupergit C has good reusability, thermal stability and long-term storage stability.     

Continuous fill intermittent decant type sequencing batch reactor application to upgrade the UASB treated sewage

The performance of continuous flow intermittent decant type sequencing batch (CFID) reactor treating the effluent of an UASB reactor treating domestic wastewater and operated at 8 h hydraulic retention time (HRT) was investigated. The CFID was operated at three different HRTs (22, 8 and 6 h) and three different dissolved oxygen (DO) patterns (<0.5, 2.5–3.5 and 3.5–4.5 mg/L). The highest effluent quality was observed at the 8 h HRT and 2.5–3.5 mg/L DO concentration. At this operational condition, the average BOD, TSS, ammonia nitrogen and fecal coliform removal efficiencies were 83, 90, 74 and 99 %, respectively. The CFID is a promising post-treatment option for existing UASB systems, with a final effluent quality that comply with receiving water and effluent reuse criteria.     

The large-scale immobilization of Penicillium chrysogenum: batch and continuous operation in an air-lift reactor

A temperature-sensitive cell division cycle mutant of Penicillium chrysogenum P2 has been immobilized on Celite and grown in a 250-320-L working volume air-lift fermenter. The ability to uncouple growth and penicillin synthesis by raising the temperature to 30 degrees C also overcame the problem of the free cell mass which appeared after 300 h operation with the parent organism. After 500 h operation, penicillin and ACV dimer were still being synthesized.     

Acetylcholinesterase with mesoporous silica: Covalent immobilization,physiochemical characterization,and its application in food for pesticide detection

Toxic contamination of commonly consumed food products and water due to food chain vulnerability via agricultural products and commodities is a serious health hazard. This study reports on Santa Barbara Amorphous (SBA-15), a type of mesoporous silica nanoparticles, for efficient and stable acetylcholinesterase (AChE) adhesion toward detection of toxic pesticides. AChE was immobilized to the inert framework of mesoporous materials viz. SBA-15 with a proficient hydrolytic response toward acetylthiocholine. The immobilized system acts as a biosensor for the detection of pesticides, which are organophosphorus compounds in food. Both the SBA-15 and immobilized SBA-15 were characterized to give an insight on the physiochemical and morphological modification properties. The enzyme activity was accessed by Ellman’s spectrophotometric bioassay for bare and enzyme-immobilized SBA-15 that resulted in promising enzymatic activity with the counterpart. Enzyme stability was also studied, which exhibited that immobilized AChE retained its catalytic activity up to 60 days and retained 80% of the hydrolytic activity even at 37°C. On the basis of the success of immobilized enzyme (covalent) being inhibited by acetylthiocholine, the sensor was administered for the inhibition by monocrotophos and dimethoate that are used widely as pesticides in agricultural. The inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) value was found to be 2.5 ppb for monocrotophos and 1.5 ppb for dimethoate inhibiting immobilized AChE. This was verified using cyclic voltammetry, an electrochemical analysis thus proving that the SBA-15@AChE complex could be used as a sensitive and highly stable sensor for detecting the concentration of hazardous pesticide compounds.     

The application of a plug-flow reactor to measure the biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) in seawater

Most of the ambient dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is refractory to microbial degradation; bacteria can consume a minor but variable part of the DOC pool over periods of hours and days. It is important to increase our knowledge of the dynamics of the biodegradable fraction of DOC (BDOC) to understand the global carbon budget.Several methods for determining BDOC have been developed; however, the problem of most of them is the time (days/weeks) required for the colonization and/or determination.In this paper, we describe the application to seawater of a plug-flow bioreactor to measure BDOC within 3–4 h. The bioreactor was built following Søndergaard and Worm [Søndergaard, M., Worm, J., 2001. Measurement of biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) in lake water with a bioreactor. Water Res. 35, 2505-2513.] protocols for the measurement of BDOC in lake water. We analyzed BDOC on samples collected in the Gulf of Trieste during autumn–winter and summer 2003–2004. BDOC concentrations varied from 8 to 24 μM and represented from 10.3% to 25.5% of the total DOC. To evaluate the effectiveness of this method, we compared bioreactor BDOC measurement with data obtained from batch cultures. The results indicate that BDOC in coastal seawater can be measured rapidly and reliably with this bioreactor.     

Direct immobilization of gangliosides onto gold-carboxymethyldextran sensor surfaces by hydrophobic interaction: applications to antibody characterization

We describe a novel immobilization technique to investigate interactions between immobilized gangliosides (GD3, GM1, and GM2) and their respective antibodies, antibody fragments, or binding partners using an optical biosensor. Immobilization was performed by direct injection onto a carboxymethyldextran sensor chip and did not require derivatization of the sensor surface or the ganglioside. The ganglioside appeared to bind to the sensor surface by hydrophobic interaction, leaving the carbohydrate epitope available for antibody or, in the case of GM1, cholera toxin binding. The carboxyl group of the dextran chains on the sensor surface did not appear to be involved in the immobilization as evidenced by equivalent levels of immobilization following conversion of the carboxyl groups into acyl amino esters, but rather the dextran layer provided a hydrophilic coverage of the sensor chip which was essential to prevent nonspecific binding. This technique gave better reactivity and specificity for anti- ganglioside monoclonal antibodies (anti-GD3: KM871, KM641, R24; and anti-GM2: KM966) than immobilization by hydrophobic interaction onto a gold sensor surface or photoactivated cross-linking onto carboxymethydextran. This rapid immobilization procedure has facilitated detailed kinetic analysis of ganglioside/antibody interactions, with the surface remaining viable for a large number of cycles (>125). Kinetic constants were determined from the biosensor data using linear regression, nonlinear least squares and equilibrium analysis. The values of kd, ka, and KAobtained by nonlinear analysis (KAKM871 = 1.05, KM641 = 1.66, R24 = 0.14, and KM966 = 0.65 x 10(7) M- 1) were essentially independent of concentration and showed good agreement with data obtained by other analytical methods.      

Covalent immobilization of lipase from Candida rugosa onto poly(acrylonitrile-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) electrospun fibrous membranes for potential bioreactor application

A simple way of fabricating enzymatic membrane reactor with high enzyme loading and activity retention from the conjugation between nanofibrous membrane and lipase was devised. Poly(acrylonitrile-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PANCHEMA) was electrospun into fibrous membrane and used as support for enzyme immobilization. The hydroxyl groups on the fibrous membrane surface were activated with epichlorohydrin, cyanuric chloride or p-benzoquinone, respectively. Lipase from Candida rugosa was covalently immobilized on these fibrous membranes. The resulted bioactive fibrous membranes were examined in catalytic efficiency and activity for hydrolysis. The observed enzyme loading on the fibrous membrane with fiber diameter of 80–150 nm was up to 1.6% (wt/wt), which was as thrice as that on the fibrous membrane with fiber diameter of 800–1000 nm. Activity retention for the immobilized lipase varied between 32.5% and 40.6% with the activation methods of hydroxyl groups. Stabilities of the immobilized lipase were obviously improved. In addition, continuous hydrolysis was carried out with an enzyme-immobilized fibrous membrane bioreactor and a steady hydrolysis conversion (3.6%) was obtained at a 0.23 mL/min flow rate under optimum condition.     

Covalent immobilization of proteins for high-sensitivity sequence analysis: electroblotting onto chemically activated glass from sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels

We report a new method for the preparation of proteins in a form suitable for high-sensitivity N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis. Proteins separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were electrophoretically transferred onto glass fiber filter paper chemically activated by the introduction of phenyl isothiocyanate functional groups. The proteins became covalently coupled to the matrix during the electrotransfer process. Bands containing transferred proteins were detected by fluorescent staining or autoradiography, cut out from the glass fiber filter, and directly loaded into the cartridge of a gas-phase sequenator. The covalent nature of the interactions between protein and glass fiber support permitted the use of more vigorous solid-phase sequencing protocols and of alternative sequencing reagents. This high-efficiency isolation and covalent coupling method provides the essential first step toward enhanced-sensitivity protein sequence analysis. The method has been successfully applied to the isolation of a wide variety of proteins from SDS-polyacrylamide gels, and was shown to be compatible with both the standard Edman reagent phenyl isothiocyanate and alternative sequencing reagents such as 4-(N,N'-dimethylamino)azobenzene-4'-isothiocyanate (DABITC).     

Covalent immobilization of DNA onto polystyrene microwells: the molecules are only bound at the 5' end.

Carbodiimide-mediated condensation of DNA onto microwells is investigated. DNA is bound onto the microwells by formation of a phosphoramidate bond between the 5' terminal phosphate group and the microwells. Immobilization of 25 to 30 ng DNA per well is obtained. DNA molecules bound covalently at only the 5' end are, ideally, perfect for hybridization. The practicability of DNA molecules bound to microwells for hybridization is investigated.     

Covalent immobilization of recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhizobium etli</Emphasis> CFN42 xylitol dehydrogenase onto modified silica nanoparticles

Rare sugars have many applications in food industry, as well as pharmaceutical and nutrition industries. Xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) can be used to synthesize various rare sugars enzymatically. However, the immobilization of XDH has not been performed to improve the industrial production of rare sugars. In this study, silica nanoparticles which have high immobilization efficiency were selected from among several carriers for immobilization of recombinant Rhizobium etli CFN42 xylitol dehydrogenase (ReXDH) and subjected to characterization. Among four different chemical modification methods to give different functional groups, the silica nanoparticle derivatized with epoxy groups showed the highest immobilization efficiency (92%). The thermostability of ReXDH was improved more than tenfold by immobilization on epoxy-silica nanoparticles; the t _1/2 of the ReXDH was enhanced from 120 min to 1,410 min at 40 °C and from 30 min to 450 min at 50 °C. The K _m of ReXDH was slightly altered from 17.9 to only 19.2 mM by immobilization. The immobilized ReXDH had significant reusability, as it retained 81% activity after eight cycles of batch conversion of xylitol into l-xylulose. A ∼ 71% conversion and a productivity of 10.7 g h^-1 l^-1 were achieved when the immobilized ReXDH was employed to catalyze the biotransformation of xylitol to l-xylulose, a sugar that has been used in medicine and in the diagnosis of hepatitis. These results suggest that immobilization of ReXDH onto epoxy-silica nanoparticles has potential industrial application in rare sugar production.     

Isolation and characterization of isopimaric acid-degrading bacteria from a sequencing batch reactor.

We isolated two aerobic, gram-negative bacteria which grew on the diterpene resin acid isopimaric acid (IpA) as the sole carbon source and electron donor. The source of the isolates was a sequencing batch reactor treating a high-strength process stream from a paper mill. The isolates, IpA-1 and IpA-2, also grew on pimaric and dehydroabietic acids, and IpA-1 grew on abietic acid. Both strains used fatty acids, but neither strain used camphor, sitosterol, or betulin. Strain IpA-1 grew anaerobically with nitrate as an electron acceptor. Strains IpA-1 and IpA-2 had growth yields of 0.19 and 0.23 g of protein per g of IpA, respectively. During growth, both strains transformed IpA carbon to approximately equal amounts of biomass, carbon dioxide, and dissolved organic carbon. In both strains, growth on IpA induced an enzymatic system which caused cell suspensions to transform all four of the above resin acids. Cell suspensions of IpA-1 and IpA-2 removed IpA at rates of 0.56 and 0.13 mumol mg of protein-1 h-1, respectively. Cultures and cell suspensions of both strains failed to completely consume pimaric acid and yielded small amounts of an apparent metabolite from this acid. Cultures and cell suspensions of both strains yielded large amounts of three apparent metabolites from dehydroabietic acid. Analysis of 16S rDNA sequences indicated that the isolates are distinct members of the genus Pseudomonas sensu stricto.     

Covalent immobilization of alkaline proteinase on amino-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles and application in soy protein hydrolysis

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized and surface modified with (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES). The alkaline proteinase (AP) was covalently immobilized on the APTES-modified MNPs through glutaraldehyde linkage. The resulting AP-loaded MNPs have an average size of 84 nm in aqueous solution, and a magnetization of 40 emu/g, endowing the immobilized enzyme with excellent magnetic responsively and dispersity. The maximum amount of AP and catalytic activity immobilized 1.0 mg MNPs was 120 μg and 25.3 units, respectively. Immobilized AP showed maximum activity at pH 10.0 and 50°C. Compared with free enzyme, the immobilized AP exhibited better storage stability. Moreover, immobilized AP can be reused 10 times and still maintained about 50% of its initial activity. The degree of hydrolysis of soy protein hydrolysates for immobilized AP could reach 19.0%, which was closer to the value of free enzyme. The molecular weight (M.W.) analysis showed that the soy protein was hydrolyzed successfully into small peptides of two main fractions with an average M.W. of 742 and 2126 Da. This study indicated that the immobilized AP could be used to hydrolyze continuously soy protein for potential industry application. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 35: e2756, 2019.     

Construction and characterization of a multi-layer enzyme electrode: Covalent binding of quinoprotein glucose dehydrogenase onto gold electrodes

Multilayers of quinoprotein glucose dehydrogenase were assembled onto modified gold electrodes. As a primary modifier the bifunctional 3,3′-dithiodipropionic acid bis(N-hydroxysuccinimide ester) was chemisorbed. Glucose dehydrogenase was covalently bound to this activated electrode in a stepwise procedure. In the presence of glucose, the electrode functions as a sensor for electron acceptors. Catalytic current, as observed for p-aminophenol, was used to characterize electrode performance. The dependence of the electrode response on the number of enzyme layers showed that the transition from a kinetic to a diffusion-limited sensor is reached at 6–7 enzyme layers. The response of multilayer electrode is stable over a broad range of pH and ionic strength of the bulk solution. It also shows good stability: after 2 months, 75% of its original activity remained.     

Purification, immobilization and characterization of linoleic acid isomerase on modified palygorskite

Linoleic acid isomerase from Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus 1.1480 was purified by DEAE ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography. An overall 5.1% yield and purification of 93-fold were obtained. The molecular weight of the purified protein was ~41 kDa which was analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The purified enzyme was immobilized on palygorskite modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The immobilized enzyme showed an activity of 82 U/g. The optimal temperature and pH for the activity of the free enzyme were 30 °C and pH 6.5, respectively; whereas those for the immobilized enzyme were 35 °C and pH 7.0, respectively. The immobilized enzyme was more stable than the free enzyme at 30–60 °C, and the operational stability result showed that more than 85% of its initial activity was retained after incubation for 3 h. The K _m and V _max values of the immobilized enzyme were found to be 0.0619 mmol l⁻¹ and 0.147 mmol h⁻¹ mg⁻¹, respectively. The immobilized enzyme had high operational stability and retained high enzymatic activity after seven cycles of reuse at 37 °C.