Production of biodiesel fuel from soybean oil catalyzed by fungus whole-cell biocatalysts in ionic liquids

The methanolysis of soybean oil to produce a fatty acid methyl ester (ME, i.e., biodiesel fuel) was catalyzed by lipase-producing filamentous fungi immobilized on biomass support particles (BSPs) as a whole-cell biocatalyst in the presence of ionic liquids. We used four types of whole-cell biocatalysts: wild-type Rhizopus oryzae producing triacylglycerol lipase (w-ROL), recombinant Aspergillus oryzae expressing Fusarium heterosporum lipase (r-FHL), Candida antarctica lipase B (r-CALB), and mono- and diacylglycerol lipase from A. oryzae (r-mdlB). w-ROL gave the high yield of fatty acid methyl ester (ME) in ionic liquid [Emim][BF₄] or [Bmim][BF₄] biphasic systems following a 24 h reaction. While lipases are known to be severely deactivated by an excess amount of methanol (e.g. 1.5 Mequiv. of methanol against oil) in a conventional system, methanolysis successfully proceeded even with a methanol/oil ratio of 4 in the ionic liquid biphasic system, where the ionic liquids would work as a reservoir of methanol to suppress the enzyme deactivation. When only w-ROL was used as a biocatalyst for methanolysis, unreacted mono-glyceride remained due to the 1,3-positional specificity of R. oryzae lipase. High ME conversion was attained by the combined use of two types of whole-cell biocatalysts, w-ROL and r-mdlB. In a stability test, the activity of w-ROL was reduced to one-third of its original value after incubation in [Bmim][BF₄] for 72 h. The stability of w-ROL in [Bmim][BF₄] was greatly enhanced by cross-linking the biocatalyst with glutaraldehyde. The present study demonstrated that ionic liquids are promising candidates for use as the second solvent in biodiesel fuel production by whole-cell biocatalysts.     

Enhancement of activity of lipase-displaying yeast cells and their application to optical resolution of (R,S)-1-benzyloxy-3-chloro-2-propyl monosuccinate

Rhizopus oryzae lipase (ROL) was displayed on the cell surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae via the Flo1 N-terminal region (1100 amino acids), which corresponds to a flocculation functional domain. The activity of lipase-displaying yeast whole-cell biocatalysts was enhanced 7.3-fold by incubation of the yeast cells at 20 degrees C in distilled water for 8 days after 8 day cultivation. The amount of lipase molecules present in cell wall and intracellular fractions was found to be increased 4.5- and 1.8-fold, respectively, by incubation, which proves that ROL molecules are expressed during incubation. The ROL-displaying yeast whole-cell biocatalyst with enhanced activity was successfully catalyzed by optical resolution of the pharmaceutical precursor (R,S)-1-benzyloxy-3-chloro-2-propyl monosuccinate. Moreover, it showed stable activity through at least eight reaction cycles. These results demonstrate that ROL-displaying yeast cells with enhanced activity by incubation in distilled water are very effective in industrial bioconversion processes.     

Creation of Rhizopus oryzae lipase having a unique oxyanion hole by combinatorial mutagenesis in the lid domain

Combinatorial libraries of the lid domain of Rhizopus oryzae lipase (ROL; Phe88Xaa, Ala91Xaa, Ile92Xaa) were displayed on the yeast cell surface using yeast cell-surface engineering. Among the 40,000 transformants in which ROL mutants were displayed on the yeast cell surface, ten clones showed clear halos on soybean oil-containing plates. Among these, some clones exhibited high activities toward fatty acid esters of fluorescein and contained non-polar amino acid residues in the mutated positions. Computer modeling of the mutants revealed that hydrophobic interactions between the substrates and amino acid residues in the open form of the lid might be critical for ROL activity. Based on these results, Thr93 and Asp94 were further combinatorially mutated. Among 6,000 transformants, the Thr93Thr, Asp94Ser and Thr93Ser, Asp94Ser transformants exhibited a significant shift in substrate specificity toward a short-chain substrate. Computer modeling of these mutants suggested that a unique oxyanion hole, which is composed of Thr85 Oγ and Ser94 Oγ, was formed and thus the substrate specificity was changed. Therefore, coupling combinatorial mutagenesis with the cell surface display of ROL could lead to the production of a unique ROL mutant.     

A robust whole-cell biocatalyst that introduces a thermo- and solvent-tolerant lipase into Aspergillus oryzae cells: Characterization and application to enzymatic biodiesel production

To develop a robust whole-cell biocatalyst that works well at moderately high temperature (40–50 °C) with organic solvents, a thermostable lipase from Geobacillus thermocatenulatus (BTL2) was introduced into an Aspergillus oryzae whole-cell biocatalyst. The lipase-hydrolytic activity of the immobilized A. oryzae (r-BTL) was highest at 50 °C and was maintained even after an incubation of 24-h at 60 °C. In addition, r-BTL was highly tolerant to 30% (v/v) organic solvents (dimethyl carbonate, ethanol, methanol, 2-propanol or acetone). The attractive characteristics of r-BTL also worked efficiently on palm oil methanolysis, resulting in a nearly 100% conversion at elevated temperature from 40 to 50 °C. Moreover, r-BTL catalyzed methanolysis at a high methanol concentration without a significant loss of lipase activity. In particular, when 2 molar equivalents of methanol were added 2 times, a methyl ester content of more than 90% was achieved; the yield was higher than those of conventional whole-cell biocatalyst and commercial Candida antarctica lipase (Novozym 435). On the basis of the results regarding the excellent lipase characteristics and efficient biodiesel production, the developed whole-cell biocatalyst would be a promising biocatalyst in a broad range of applications including biodiesel production.     

Preparation of a whole-cell biocatalyst of mutated <Emphasis Type="Italic">Candida antarctica</Emphasis> lipase B (mCALB) by a yeast molecular display system and its practical properties

To prepare a whole-cell biocatalyst of a stable lipase at a low price, mutated Candida antarctica lipase B (mCALB) constructed on the basis of the primary sequences of CALBs from C. antarctica CBS 6678 strain and from C. antarctica LF 058 strain was displayed on a yeast cell surface by α-agglutinin as the anchor protein for easy handling and stability of the enzyme. When mCALB was displayed on the yeast cell surface, it showed a preference for short chain fatty acids, an advantage for producing flavors; although when Rhizopus oryzae lipase (ROL) was displayed, the substrate specificity was for middle chain lengths. When the thermal stability of mCALB on the cell surface was compared with that of ROL on a cell surface, T _1/2, the temperature required to give a residual activity of 50% for heat treatment of 30 min, was 60°C for mCALB and 44°C for ROL indicating that mCALB displayed on cell surface has a higher thermal stability. Furthermore, the activity of the displayed mCALB against p-nitrophenyl butyrate was 25-fold higher than that of soluble CALB, as reported previously. These findings suggest that mCALB-displaying yeast is more practical for industrial use as the whole-cell biocatalyst.     

Use of mono- and diacylglycerol lipase as immobilized fungal whole cells to convert residual partial glycerides enzymatically into fatty acid methyl esters

The accumulation of partial glycerides such as monoglyceride (MG) and diglyceride (DG) is one of the rate-limiting steps in plant oil methanolysis catalyzed by Rhizopus oryzae producing triacylglycerol lipase. To convert partial glycerides efficiently into their corresponding methyl esters (MEs), we attempted to use a mono- and diacylglycerol lipase (mdlB) derived from Aspergillus oryzae. By considering cost efficiency, R. oryzae and recombinant mdlB-producing A. oryzae were immobilized independently within polyurethane foam biomass support particles and directly utilized as a whole-cell biocatalyst. The mdlB-producing A. oryzae effectively exhibited substrate specificity toward MG and DG and was then used for the methanolysis of intermediate products (approximately 82% ME), which were produced using R. oryzae. In the presence of 5% water, the use of mdlB-producing A. oryzae resulted in less than 0.1% of MG and DG, whereas a considerable amount of triglyceride was present in the final reaction mixture. On the basis of these results, we developed a packed-bed reactor (PBR) system, which consists of the first column with R. oryzae and the second column containing both R. oryzae and mdlB-producing A. oryzae. Ten repeated-batch methanolysis cycles in the PBR maintained a high ME content of over 90% with MG and DG at 0.08–0.69 and 0.22–1.45%, respectively, indicating that the PBR system can be used for long-term repeated-batch methanolysis with partial glycerides at low levels. The proposed method is therefore effective for improving enzymatic biodiesel production.     

Bacterial cell surface display of lipase and its randomly mutated library facilitates high-throughput screening of mutants showing higher specific activities

The thermostable lipase (TliA) from Pseuodmonas fluorescens was functionally displayed on the surface of Escherichia coli using the ice-nucleation protein (INP) as an anchor. The INP–TliA fusion proteins were correctly synthesized and localized on the surface, confirmed by flow cytometer and halo forming activity on tributyrin emulsion agar plate. Lipase-displaying cells were used as an alternative immobilized biocatalyst to hydrolyze olive oil in aqueous–organic solvent two phases reaction. Furthermore, the randomly generated library of TliA was also displayed on E. coli. In order to be able to screen mutants showing increased specific activities, we optimized culture conditions, induction condition and host cell types. From more than 10⁵ members of library, top four mutants were selected. Selected clones of T48, T54, T61, and T68 showed 29-, 24-, 2-, and 19-fold increases, respectively, in whole-cell activities compared to wild-type enzyme. The DNA sequencing showed that one or three amino acids were exchanged and positions critical for increased activities were random. These results demonstrate that surface display provide a useful technology for directed evolution of industrially important lipases.     

Genetic organization of the putative salbostatin biosynthetic gene cluster including the 2-<Emphasis Type="Italic">epi</Emphasis>-5-<Emphasis Type="Italic">epi</Emphasis>-valiolone synthase gene in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptomyces albus</Emphasis> ATCC 21838

In this paper, we provide the first report of utilizing recombinant fungal whole cells in enzymatic biodiesel production. Aspergillus oryzae, transformed with a heterologous lipase-encoding gene from Fusarium heterosporum, produced fully processed and active forms of recombinant F. heterosporum lipase (FHL). Cell immobilization within porous biomass support particles enabled the convenient usage of FHL-producing A. oryzae as a whole-cell biocatalyst for lipase-catalyzed methanolysis. The addition of 5% water to the reaction mixture was effective in both preventing the lipase inactivation by methanol and facilitating the acyl migration in partial glycerides, resulting in the final methyl ester content of 94% even in the tenth batch cycle. A comparative study showed that FHL-producing A. oryzae attained a higher final methyl ester content and higher lipase stability than Rhizopus oryzae, the previously developed whole-cell biocatalyst. Although both FHL and R. oryzae lipase exhibit 1,3-regiospecificity towards triglyceride, R. oryzae accumulated a much higher amount of sn−2 isomers of partial glycerides, whereas FHL-producing A. oryzae maintained a low level of the sn−2 isomers. This is probably because FHL efficiently facilitates the acyl migration from the sn−2 to the sn−1(3) position in partial glycerides. These findings indicate that the newly developed FHL-producing A. oryzae is an effective whole-cell biocatalyst for enzymatic biodiesel production.     

Altering substrate specificity of phosphatidylcholine-preferring phospholipase C of Bacillus cereus by random mutagenesis of the headgroup binding site

PLC(Bc) is a 28.5 kDa monomeric enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bond of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylserine to provide a diacylglycerol and the corresponding phosphorylated headgroup. Because single replacements of Glu4, Tyr56, and Phe66 in the headgroup binding pocket led to changes in substrate specificity [Martin et al. (2000) Biochemistry 39, 3410-3415], a combinatorial library of approximately 6000 maltose binding protein-PLC(Bc) fusion protein mutants containing random permutations of these three residues was generated to identify PLC(Bc) mutants with altered specificity profiles and high catalytic activities. Members of this library were screened for hydrolytic activity toward the water soluble substrates C6PC, C6PE, and C6PS using a novel protocol that was conducted in a 96-well format and featured the in situ cleavage of the fusion protein to release the mutant PLC(Bc)s. Ten mutant enzymes that exhibited significant preferences toward C6PE or C6PS were selected and analyzed by steady-state kinetics to determine their specificity constants, k(cat)/K(M). The C6PS selective clones E4G, E4Q/Y56T/F66Y, and E4K/Y56V exhibited higher specificity constants toward C6PS than wt, whereas Y56T, F66Y, and Y56T/F66Y were C6PE selective and had comparable or higher specificity constants than wt for C6PE. The corresponding wt residues were singly reinserted back into the E4Q/Y56T/F66Y and E4K/Y56V mutants via site-directed mutagenesis, and the E4Q/F66Y mutant thus obtained exhibited a 10-fold higher specificity constant toward C6PS than wt, a value significantly higher than other PLC(Bc) mutants. On the basis of available data, an aromatic residue at position 66 appears important for significant catalytic activity toward all three substrates, especially C6PC and C6PE. The charge of residue 4 also appears to be a determinant of enzyme specificity as a negatively charged residue at this position endows the enzyme with C6PC and C6PE preference, whereas a polar neutral or positively charged residue results in C6PS selectivity. Replacing Tyr56 with Val, Ala, Thr, or Ser greatly reduces activity toward C6PC. Thus, the substrate specificity of PLC(Bc) can be modulated by varying three of the amino acid residues that constitute the headgroup binding pocket, and it is now apparent that this enzyme is not evolutionarily optimized to hydrolyze phospholipids with ethanolamine or serine headgroups.     

Mechanism study on NS81006-mediated methanolysis of triglyceride in oil/water biphasic system for biodiesel production

Compared to immobilized lipase, soluble lipase has the merits of lower cost and faster reaction rate, thus much attention has been paid to soluble lipase-mediated methanolysis for biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester, FAME) production in recent years. Our previous study showed that soluble lipase NS81006 could effectively catalyze the methanolysis of soybean oil (triglyceride, TG) for FAME preparation in oil/water biphasic system. Study on the related mechanism of soluble lipase NS81006-mediated methanolysis of TG was carried out in this paper. Based on the analysis of substances change in the reaction process, mechanism model was hypothesized and the model parameters were simulated by Matlab. The simulated model was validated further. The results showed that in the reaction process of soluble lipase NS81006-mediated methanolysis of TG in oil/water biphasic system, TG proceeded three-step hydrolysis to generate FFA (free fatty acid), and then FFA transformed into FAME by esterification with methanol. During the whole process, FFA is mainly generated through the hydrolysis of TG and intermediate DG (diglyceride), while the hydrolysis of FAME could be ignored.     

解脂耶氏酵母脂肪酶Lip2的表面展示及其酶学性质

表面展示酶作为全细胞催化剂具备诸如能提高酶的稳定性、省去纯化过程、节约成本等优点。脂肪酶是应用最为广泛的工业酶之一。本研究利用酿酒酵母细胞壁蛋白Cwp2作为锚定蛋白,将解脂耶氏酵母脂肪酶Lip2展示在酿酒酵母细胞表面,以制备脂肪酶全细胞催化剂。Lip2被融合到Cwp2的N端,Cwp2通过其C端的GPI锚定信号共价结合到细胞壁上。表面展示的Lip2可以水解三丁酸甘油酯及对硝基苯酚辛酸酯(pNPC),其pNPC水解酶活达到4.6U/g干细胞。作为全细胞催化剂,表面展示的Lip2具备良好的催化特征,其最适温度为40°C,最适pH为8.0,同时还具备良好的有机溶剂稳定性。     

Yeast whole-cell biocatalyst constructed by intracellular overproduction of Rhizopus oryzae lipase is applicable to biodiesel fuel production

Yeast whole-cell biocatalysts for lipase-catalyzed reactions were constructed by intracellularly overproducing Rhizopus oryzae lipase (ROL) in Saccharomvces cerevisiae MT8-1. The gene encoding lipase from R. orvzae IFO4697 was cloned, and intracellular overproduction systems of a recombinant ROL with a pro-sequence (rProROL) were constructed. When rProROL from R. oryzae IFO4697 was produced under the control of the 5'-upstream region of the isocitrate lyase gene of Candida tropicalis (UPR-ICL) at 30 degrees C for 98 h by two-stage cultivation using SDC medium (SD medium with 2% casamino acids) containing 2.0% and 0.5% glucose, intracellular lipase activity reached levels up to 474.5 IU/l. These whole-cell biocatalysts were permeabilized by air-drying and used for the synthesis of methyl esters (MEs), a potential biodiesel fuel, from plant oil and methanol in a solvent-free and water-containing system. The ME content in the reaction mixture was 71 wt% after a 165-h reaction at 37 degrres C with stepwise addition of methanol. These results indicate that an efficient whole-cell biocatalyst can be prepared by intracellular overproduction of lipase in yeast cells and their permeabilization.     

Engineering of Candida antarctica lipase B for hydrolysis of bulky carboxylic acid esters

Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) is a widely used biocatalyst with high activity and specificity for a wide range of primary and secondary alcohols. However, the range of converted carboxylic acids is more narrow and mainly limited to unbranched fatty acids. To further broaden the biotechnological applications of CALB it is of interest to expand the range of converted carboxylic acid and extend it to carboxylic acids that are branched or substituted in close proximity of the carboxyl group. An in silico library of 2400 CALB variants was built and screened in silico by substrate-imprinted docking, a four step docking procedure. First, reaction intermediates of putative substrates are covalently docked into enzyme active sites. Second, the geometry of the resulting enzyme-substrate complex is optimized. Third, the substrate is removed from the complex and then docked again into the optimized structure. Fourth, the resulting substrate poses are rated by geometric filter criteria as productive or non-productive poses. Eleven enzyme variants resulting from the in silico screening were expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 and measured in the hydrolysis of two branched fatty acid esters, isononanoic acid ethyl ester and 2-ethyl hexanoic acid ethyl esters. Five variants showed an initial increase in activity. The variant with the highest wet mass activity (T138S) was purified and further characterized. It showed a 5-fold increase in hydrolysis of isononanoic acid ethyl ester, but not toward sterically more demanding 2-ethyl hexanoic acid ethyl ester.     

Lipase-catalyzed methanolysis of palm oil in presence and absence of organic solvent for production of biodiesel

Enzymatic production of methyl esters (biodiesel) by methanolysis of palm oil in presence and absence of organic solvent was investigated using Candida antarctica lipase immobilized on acrylic resin as a biocatalyst. Although, at least molar equivalent of methanol (methanol-palm oil ratio 3:1) is required for the complete conversion of palm oil to methyl esters, lipase catalyzed methanolysis of palm oil in absence of organic solvent was poisoned by adding more than 1/3 molar equivalent of methanol. The use of polar organic solvents prevented the lipase to be poisoned in methanolysis with a molar equivalent of methanol, and tetrahydrofuran (THF) was found to be the most effective. The presence of water in methanolysis of palm oil both in presence and absence of THF inhibited the reaction rate but this inhibition was considerably low in THF containing system. The palm oil-lipase (w/w) ratio significantly influenced the activity of lipase and the optimal ratio in presence and absence of THF was 100 and 50, respectively.     

Enhancement of cellulase activity by clones selected from the combinatorial library of the cellulose-binding domain by cell surface engineering

To improve the cellulolytic activity of a yeast strain displaying endoglucanase IotaIota (EG II) from Trichoderma reesei, a combinatorial library of the cellulose-binding domain (CBD) of EG II was constructed by using cell surface engineering. When EG II degrades celluloses, CBD binds to cellulose, and its catalytic domain cleaves the glycosidic bonds of cellulose. CBD had a flat face, composed of five amino acids for binding. It was supposed that the three hydrophobic amino acid residues of the five amino acid residues were essential for binding to cellulose. Therefore, by improving the two remaining amino acid residues, construction of mutants with a combinatorial library of the two amino acids in CBD was carried out and binding ability and hydrolysis activity were measured. In the first screening by halo assay using the Congo Red staining method, about 200 of the 2000 colonies formed clear halos, and then five colonies with the clearest halos were finally selected. In the second screening, the binding ability of the five mutants to phosphoric acid-swollen Avicel was measured. In addition, the measurement of hydrolysis activity toward carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) using the screened mutants was carried out. As a result, the mutated EG II exhibiting higher binding ability (1.5-fold) had higher hydrolysis activity (1.3-fold) compared to the parent EG II-displaying yeast cell, demonstrating that CBD has confirmatively some effect on the cellulase activity through its binding ability of the enzyme to cellulose.     

Enantioselective transesterification using lipase-displaying yeast whole-cell biocatalyst

An enantioselective transesterification in non-aqueous organic solvent was developed by utilizing a lipase-displaying yeast whole cell biocatalyst constructed in our previous study. As a model reaction, optical resolution of (RS)-1-phenylethanol, which serves as one of chiral building blocks, was carried out by enantioselective transesterification with vinyl acetate. Recombinant Rhizopus oryzae lipase displayed on the yeast cell surface retained its activity in hexane, heptane, cyclohexane and octane. The effective amount of whole-cell biocatalyst in the reaction mixture was 10 mg/ml solvent. In a reaction mixture incubated for 36 h with molecular sieves 4A, the concentration of (R)-1-phenylethyl acetate reached 39.8 mM (97.3% yield) with high enantiomeric excess (93.3%ee). In contrast, a reaction mixture incubated without molecular sieves 4A produced little (R)- and (S)-1-phenylethyl acetate. The results obtained in this study demonstrate the applicability of the lipase-displaying yeast whole cell biocatalyst to bioconversion processes in non-aqueous organic solvents.     

Construction of combinatorial library of starch-binding domain of Rhizopus oryzae glucoamylase and screening of clones with enhanced activity by yeast display method

Most of the glucoamylases (GA), which catalyze the hydrolysis of -1,4 and -1,6 glycosidic linkages, have a distinct region called a starch-binding domain (SBD). We have developed a powerful method for screening a library of GA mutants by a combination of GA display and SBD mutagenesis on the yeast-cell surface. In the case of Rhizopus oryzae glucoamylase (RoGA), three amino acids (63S, 71T, 73S) of the SBD were combinatorially mutated to enhance the degradation activity toward cooked corn starch and the mutated RoGAs were displayed on yeast-cell surface by cell-surface engineering. After the first screening by halo assay using an iodine-starch reaction, about 200 of the 8000 colonies formed clear halos. Incubation of the yeast with the mutated and displayed RoGAs caused direct degradation of cooked corn starch. Repeated screening revealed that some of the mutants produced a degradation rate around 1.4-fold higher than did wild type. The results obtained from the DNA sequences of the mutated SBDs indicated that amino-acid residues with a carbonyl group (D, E, Q, N) in the SBD enhance the degradation ability of the GA by enhancing the binding activity of the SBD.     

Biodiesel-fuel production in a packed-bed reactor using lipase-producing Rhizopus oryzae cells immobilized within biomass support particles

A packed-bed reactor (PBR) system using fungus whole-cell biocatalyst was developed for biodiesel fuel production by plant oil methanolysis. Lipase-producing Rhizopus oryzae cells were immobilized within 6 mm × 6 mm × 3 mm cuboidal polyurethane foam biomass support particles (BSPs) during batch cultivation in a 20-l air-lift bioreactor. Emulsification of the reaction mixture containing soybean oils and water improved the methanolysis reaction rate. Using a high flow rate for the reaction mixture in the PBR caused exfoliation of the immobilized cells from the BSPs, while the inefficient mixing of the reaction mixture at low flow rates allowed the BSPs to be covered with a hydrophilic layer of high methanol concentration, leading to a significant decrease in lipase activity. A high methyl ester content of over 90% was achieved at a flow rate of 25 l/h in the first cycle of repeated batch methanolysis and a high value of around 80% was maintained even after the tenth cycle. Comparison with methanolysis reaction in a shaken bottle suggested that the PBR enhances repeated batch methanolysis by protecting immobilized cells from physical damage and excess amounts of methanol. The process presented here is therefore considered to be promising for industrial biodiesel-fuel production.     

Development of a whole-cell biocatalyst co-expressing P450 monooxygenase and glucose dehydrogenase for synthesis of epoxyhexane

Oxygenases-based Escherichia coli whole-cell biocatalyst can be applied for catalysis of various commercially interesting reactions that are difficult to achieve with traditional chemical catalysts. However, substrates and products of interest are often toxic to E. coli, causing a disruption of cell membrane. Therefore, organic solvent-tolerant bacteria became an important tool for heterologous expression of such oxygenases. In this study, the organic solvent-tolerant Bacillus subtilis 3C5N was developed as a whole-cell biocatalyst for epoxidation of a toxic terminal alkene, 1-hexene. Comparing to other hosts tested, high level of tolerance towards 1-hexene and a moderately hydrophobic cell surface of B. subtilis 3C5N were suggested to contribute to its higher 1,2-epoxyhexane production. A systematic optimization of reaction conditions such as biocatalyst and substrate concentration resulted in a 3.3-fold increase in the specific rate. Co-expression of glucose dehydrogenase could partly restored NADPH-regenerating ability of the biocatalyst (up to 38?% of the wild type), resulting in approximately 53?% increase in specific rate representing approximately 22-fold increase in product concentration comparing to that obtained prior to an optimization.