Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts. They function under mild conditions, are substrate specific and enantioselective. In industrial production, we face the challenge of poor stability when enzymes are exposed to harsh industrial conditions and because of that, they are often immobilized. Immobilization prevents enzyme losses that are common when enzymes are recycled. Immobilization also improves enzyme stability under process conditions, which enables their long-term use in continuum processes. These processes are the trend in the development of modern sustainable production.
Amine transaminases (ATAs) are enzymes that catalyze the transfer of an amine group from a donor to an acceptor of amine in the presence of the coenzyme pyridoxal 5’ phosphate (PLP). Enzyme N-His6-ATA-wt with hexahistidine (His6) tag was successfully expressed and immobilized on functionalized silica nanoparticles, resulting in the formation of self-assembled structures. The silica nanoparticles were first functionalized with aminosilane chains and then complexed with metal ions. This was followed by the immobilization of the free enzyme. Coordinative binding interaction was formed between the surface-funcionalized silica nanoparticles and the His6 tag of the enzyme. Immobilization of N-His6-ATA-wt was performed on different sizes of silica nanoparticles (average diameters of 100, 250, or 500 nm), with different aminosilane chains between the nanoparticle and the metal ion, and different metal ions (Cu2+, Ni2+, La3+). Immobilization was evaluated by immobilization yield and efficiency, and recovered activity.
According to the obtained results, we found that the most suitable silica nanoparticles for the immobilization of N-His6-ATA-wt are those with the diameter of 250 nm with the longest aminosilane chain and in a complex with the copper ion (Cu2+). In this case, the immobilization yield was 68,27 %, the immobilization efficiency was 38,74 %, and recovered activity was 26,01 %. Our findings indicate that immobilization on smaller nanoparticles with longer aminosilane chains is more successful. The 100 nm nanoparticles do not follow this trend, presumably due to the difference in functionalization protocol.
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