Alcohol dehydrogenase from halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii (HvADH2) was successfully covalently immobilized on metal-derivatized epoxy Sepabeads. The immobilization conditions were optimized by investigating several parameters that affect the halophilic enzyme–support interaction. The highest immobilization efficiency (100 %) and retention activity (60 %) were achieved after 48 h of incubation of the enzyme with Ni-epoxy Sepabeads support in 100 mM Tris–HCl buffer, pH 8, containing 3 M KCl at 5 °C. No significant stabilization was observed after blocking the unreacted epoxy groups with commonly used hydrophilic agents. A significant increase in the stability of the immobilized enzyme was achieved by blocking the unreacted epoxy groups with ethylamine. The immobilization process increased the enzyme stability, thermal activity, and organic solvents tolerance when compared to its soluble counterpart, indicating that the immobilization enhances the structural and conformational stability. One step purification–immobilization of this enzyme has been carried out on metal chelate-epoxy Sepabeads, as an efficient method to obtain immobilized biocatalyst directly from bacterial extracts.

Replacement of chemical steps with biocatalytic ones is becoming increasingly more interesting due to the remarkable catalytic properties of enzymes, such as their wide range of substrate specificities and variety of chemo-, stereo- and regioselective reactions. This study presents characterisation of an alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) from the halophilic archaeum Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 (HsADH2). A hexahistidine-tagged recombinant version of HsADH2 (His-HsADH2) was heterologously overexpressed in Haloferax volcanii. The enzyme was purified in one step by immobilised Ni-affinity chromatography. His-HsADH2 was halophilic and mildly thermophilic with optimal activity for ethanol oxidation at 4 M KCl around 60 °C and pH 10.0. The enzyme was extremely stable, retaining 80 % activity after 30 days. His-HsADH2 showed preference for NADP(H) but interestingly retained 60 % activity towards NADH. The enzyme displayed broad substrate specificity, with maximum activity obtained for 1-propanol. The enzyme also accepted secondary alcohols such as 2-butanol and even 1-phenylethanol. In the reductive reaction, working conditions for His-HsADH2 were optimised for acetaldehyde and found to be 4 M KCl and pH 6.0. His-HsADH2 displayed intrinsic organic solvent tolerance, which is highly relevant for biotechnological applications.

The effect of various organic solvents on the catalytic activity, stability and substrate specificity of alchohol dehydrogenase from Haloferax volcanii (HvADH2) was evaluated. The HvADH2 showed remarkable stability and catalysed the reaction in aqueous–organic medium containing dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and methanol (MeOH). Tetrahydrofuran and acetonitrile were also investigated and adversely affected the stability of the enzyme. High concentration of salt, essential to maintain the enzymatic activity and structural integrity of the halophilic enzyme under standard conditions may be partially replaced by DMSO and MeOH. The presence of organic solvents did not induce gross changes in substrate specificity. DMSO offered a protective effect for the stability of the enzyme at nonoptimal pHs such as 6 and 10. Salt and solvent effects on the HvADH2 conformation and folding were examined through fluorescence spectroscopy. The fluorescence findings were consistent with the activity and stability results and corroborated the denaturing properties of some solvents. The intrinsic tolerance of this enzyme to organic solvent makes it highly attractive to industry.

Haloarchaeal alcohol dehydrogenases are exciting biocatalysts with potential industrial applications. In this study, two alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes from the extremely halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii (HvADH1 and HvADH2) were homologously expressed and subsequently purified by immobilized metal-affinity chromatography. The proteins appeared to copurify with endogenous alcohol dehydrogenases, and a double Δadh2 Δadh1 gene deletion strain was constructed to prevent this occurrence. Purified HvADH1 and HvADH2 were compared in terms of stability and enzymatic activity over a range of pH values, salt concentrations, and temperatures. Both enzymes were haloalkaliphilic and thermoactive for the oxidative reaction and catalyzed the reductive reaction at a slightly acidic pH. While the NAD+-dependent HvADH1 showed a preference for short-chain alcohols and was inherently unstable, HvADH2 exhibited dual cofactor specificity, accepted a broad range of substrates, and, with respect to HvADH1, was remarkably stable. Furthermore, HvADH2 exhibited tolerance to organic solvents. HvADH2 therefore displays much greater potential as an industrially useful biocatalyst than HvADH1.

A series of compounds based on the structure of bacilysin were synthesised and tested for antibacterial activity. The key steps in the syntheses are the coupling of an iodide to a diketopiperazine (DKP) and mono-lactim ether scaffold, respectively. The diastereoselectivity of the coupling reactions was dependant on the scaffold, with selectivity for DKP of about 4:1 and mono-lactim ether exceeding 98:2. Subsequent elaboration of the compounds to give open chain dipeptides and DKPs that mimic the structure of bacilysin but substitute the epoxy ketone for a saturated or unsaturated ketone is described. Overall yield from coupling to final product was between 5 and 21 %, with the yield of the saturated products notably higher. The open chain dipeptides demonstrated moderate antibacterial and antifungal activity.

The EE subunit of horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (HLADH-EE) has been subcloned in pRSETb vector to generate a fusion His-tag protein. The migration from a multistep purification protocol for this well-known enzyme to a single-step has been successfully achieved. Several adjustments to the traditional purification procedure for His-tag proteins have been made to retain protein activity. A full characterization of the fusion enzyme has been carried out and compared with the native one. The Km for EtOH, NAD and NADH in the His-tag version of HLADH are in line with the ones reported in literature for the native enzyme. A shift in optimal pH activity is also observed. The enzyme retains the same stability and quaternary structure as the wild type and can therefore be easily used instead of the native HLADH for biotechnological applications.

Haloarchaeal alcohol dehydrogenases are of increasing interest as biocatalysts in the field of white biotechnology. In this study, the gene adh12 from the extreme halophile Haloarcula marismortui (HmADH12), encoding a 384 residue protein, was cloned into two vectors: pRV1 and pTA963. The resulting constructs were used to transform host strains Haloferax volcanii (DS70) and (H1209), respectively. Overexpressed His-tagged recombinant HmADH12 was purified by immobilized metal-affinity chromatography (IMAC). The His-tagged protein was visualized by SDS-PAGE, with a subunit molecular mass of 41.6 kDa, and its identity was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Purified HmADH12 catalyzed the interconversion between alcohols and aldehydes and ketones, being optimally active in the presence of 2 M KCl. It was thermoactive, with maximum activity registered at 60°C. The NADP(H) dependent enzyme was haloalkaliphilic for the oxidative reaction with optimum activity at pH 10.0. It favored a slightly acidic pH of 6.0 for catalysis of the reductive reaction. HmADH12 was significantly more tolerant than mesophilic ADHs to selected organic solvents, making it a much more suitable biocatalyst for industrial application.

The wastewater generated at a facility specialising in potato processing was found to contain high levels of insoluble potato starch. Several separation methods were employed to obtain maximum potato starch recovery from the industrial wastewater. Centrifugation was proved to be the most effective means of separation. Following potato starch recovery, a variety of chemical and physico-chemical properties were investigated. Potato starch quality and consistency were assessed and monitored across a 1 year period, between 2007 and 2008. Based on the various starch characteristics that were obtained, it was established that the recovered potato starch was of a high quality and is therefore suitable for subsequent processing, without the need of performing any pre-treatment. Properties including total starch, damaged starch, protein, lipid and amylose content, as well as gelatinisation and retrogradation, were evaluated and a high level of consistency throughout the course of 1 year was recorded.

An efficient one-pot synthesis is described for the preparation of 1,4-disubstituted piperazine-2,5-diones starting from a suitable amine and chloroacetyl chloride in the presence of an aqueous base. The resulting chloroacetamide is cyclised in situ by employing the phase-transfer (PT) catalyst, benzyltriethylammonium chloride (TEBA). The products are isolated in excellent yields of up to 90%.An efficient one-pot synthesis is described for the preparation of 1,4-disubstituted piperazine-2,5-diones starting from a suitable amine and chloroacetyl chloride in the presence of an aqueous base, under phase-transfer conditions.

•We have isolated and characterised a novel amine transamisase from a halotoleran bacterium.•We observed that the enzyme is (S)-enantioselective.•The enzyme retains significant activity after incubation for 22 hours in up to 20% organic solvents.•We noted the enzyme ability to use isopropyl amine as amino donor as well as o-xylylenediamine.Chiral amines are indispensable building blocks in the production of biologically active compounds. They are fundamental for the pharmaceutical industry, both as active molecules themselves and as chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric synthesis; however, the available synthetic strategies often present disadvantages. ω-Transaminases (ω-TAs) appear as an attractive alternative by driving the stereoselective amination of prochiral ketones. HEWT is a novel amine transaminase from the moderate halophilic bacterium, Halomonas elongata DSM 2581, which is highly (S)-selective, being able to fully convert (S)-1-phenylethylamine to acetophenone and showing no activity with the corresponding (R)-1-phenylethylamine. HEWT has a broad substrate scope, active with a range of amino donors and acceptors, and naturally accepts isopropylamine (IPA) as amino donor in asymmetric synthesis providing a 41% conversion of pyruvate in 24 h at 37 °C starting with 1:1 molar ratio between the reagents. HEWT also accepts ortho-xylylenediamine as amino donor in for amine synthesis, in particular, with benzaldehyde yielding high conversions between 90 and 95%. The enzyme is also tolerant to the presence of cosolvents up to 20% making it a promising candidate for industrial applications.Download full-size image

With a view to their use in the kinetic resolution of racemic non-natural amino acids, five variants of the enzyme L-phenylalanine dehydrogenase, the wild-type enzyme from Bacillus sphaericus and four active-site mutants, have been tested with a range of amino acids. In each case, the rates of reaction with 0.2 mM L-amino acid and with the racemic mixture at 0.4 mM were compared, so that the starting concentration of the active substrate was kept constant. Although the D-amino acids are not substrates, they were inhibitory in all cases. The extent of inhibition, however, varied greatly from compound to compound and among the mutants. With the N145L mutant and DL 4-O-Me-Phe, the equimolar D-enantiomer gave 83.2% inhibition, and with the wild-type enzyme there was 86.7% inhibition with racemic norleucine. By contrast, with these same substrates the N145V mutant showed less than 9% and 24% inhibition respectively. The N145A mutant was selected for use with DL-4-Cl-Phe. The pH was decreased from the enzyme's optimum of 10.4 to 9.5 to minimise breakdown of the coenzyme NAD+, and the coenzyme was recycled by molecular oxygen with the assistance of a commercial diaphorase. Reaction on a 200 μmole scale in 20 ml ethanolamine HCl buffer, pH 9.5, with 25 μg N145A enzyme and 100 μg diaphorase, was monitored by chiral HPLC. The L-isomer was removed to an extent of >99% after 40 h, with the D-isomer peak undiminished. The pure D-isomer was isolated from the reaction mixture in 85% overall yield after ion-exchange chromatography.