Cecilia Giacomini

Immobilization of β-galactosidase from Kluyveromyces lactis on silica and agarose: comparison of different methods

Abstract The covalent immobilization of β -galactosidase from Kluyveromyces lactis ( β -gal) on to two different porous carriers, CPC-silica and agarose, is reported. CPC-silica was silanizated and activated with glutaraldehyde. The activation of agarose via a cyanylating agent (CDAP) was optimized. Gel-bound protein and gel-bound activity were both measured directly, allowing the determination of apparent specific activities (S.A.). Higher amounts of β -gal were immobilized on the activated CPC-silica (maximum capacity, 23 mg ml −1 of packed support) than on the CDAP-activated agarose. For the lower enzyme loading assayed (12.6 mg ml −1 packed support), 100% of the enzyme was immobilized but only 34% of its activity was expressed. This inactivation during immobilization was confirmed by the S.A. values (22–29 EU mg −1 for the CPC-derivatives and 80 EU mg −1 for soluble β -gal). The K app (3.4 mM) for the CDAP-derivative with ONPG as substrate was higher than the K M value for soluble β -gal (2 mM). When the enzyme loading was increased five-fold, the K app increased four-fold, to 13 mM. The V app values for the CPC-derivatives were remarkably lower than the V max for soluble β -galactosidase. CDAP-derivatives showed better thermal stabilities than CPC-derivatives but neither of them enhanced the stability of the soluble enzyme. When stored at 4°C, the activity of both derivatives remained stable for at least 2 months. Both derivatives displayed high percentages of lactose conversion (90%) in packed bed mini-reactors. Glucose production was 3.3-fold higher for the CPC-derivative than for the CDAP-derivative, as a consequence of the higher flow rates achieved.

Characterization of Galactosyl Derivatives Obtained by Transgalactosylation of Lactose and Different Polyols Using Immobilized β-Galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae

The synthesis of novel galactosides is interesting because of their important role in several biological processes. Their properties greatly depend upon the configuration and type of galactoside. Therefore, to study biological activity, it is essential to elucidate the structure of the products. Glycosidases are capable of catalyzing glycosidic linkages with absolute stereoselectivity of the anomeric center. We report the enzymatic synthesis of galactosyl-ethylene glycol, galactosyl-glycerol, and galactosyl-erythritol by immobilized beta-galactosidase from Aspegillus oryzae. The obtained galactosides were isolated and fully characterized by an extensive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study. Complete structure elucidation and full proton and carbon assignments were carried out using 1D ((1)H and (13)C) and 2D (gCOSY, TOCSY, multiplicity-edited gHSQC, and gHMBC) NMR experiments. The beta-galactosidase from A. oryzae showed a strong preference for primary alcohols. For galactosyl-glycerol and galactosyl-erythritol, this preference generated one and two chiral centers, respectively, and a mixture of stereoisomers was obtained as a consequence.

Enzymatic synthesis of galactosyl-xylose by Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase

In aqueous medium, the reaction catalyzed by Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase with O-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG) in the presence of an acceptor leads to the synthesis of transglycosylation compounds in addition to the hydrolysis products (ONP and galactose). Our goal was to develop a simple system for the synthesis of galactosyl-xylose, a disaccharide of possible application to diagnostics. To maximize synthesis yields, we have studied the effect of several conditions: increase of acceptor concentration (0.05-2.7 M xylose), organic co-solvents (dimethylformamide, acetone) and reaction time. In the absence of co-solvents ONPG was completely consumed in 2 h; with 0.5 M xylose the maximum yield of galactosyl-xylose (16%) was attained at 60 min, while with 2.7 M xylose the yield reached 21%. Both co-solvents tested decreased the kinetics of ONPG convertion into products and 50% (v/v) dimethylformamide was deleterious to the synthesis. However, in 50% (v/v) acetone the synthesis yield was 12% and interestingly, the proportion of transglycosylation with respect to the reacted substrate was higher than in buffer. The synthesis of galactosyl-ethyleneglycol was also studied; it was achieved with extremely high yield and no detectable hydrolysis products. This proves that other acceptor alcohols can be preferred over water in some conditions.

Influence of the immobilization chemistry on the properties of immobilized β-galactosidases

Neutral b-galactosidases from E. coli and K. lactis were bound to glutaraldehyde-agarose Glut-agarose through . amino groups, and to thiolsulfinate-agarose TSI-agarose through thiol groups. In general, TSI-gels exhibited higher yields . . after immobilization 60-85% than Glut-gels 36-40% . The kinetic parameters of the enzymes bound to TSI-gels .particularly those with lower concentration of active groups were less affected than those of the Glut-gels. This might indicate that the binding to TSI-agarose is more conservative of the protein conformation. However, the Glut-derivatives exhibited in general better thermal and solvent stabilities than TSI-derivatives. The stability of the derivatives was studied in . the presence of ethanol, dioxane and acetone 18% vrv . The stabilization of the immobilized enzymes, for some of the solvents assayed, was evidenced by the existence of final very stable enzyme states with high residual activities, thus allowing the utilization of the derivatives in the presence of organic cosolvents. q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Covalent immobilization of tobacco-etch-virus NIa protease: a useful tool for cleavage of the histidine tag of recombinant proteins

Addition of tags [such as His (histidine) tags] is extremely helpful for the affinity purification of recombinant proteins. In several cases, these tags must be removed before performing functional and structural studies. The enzyme most frequently used to cleave tags of recombinant proteins is the TEV‐protease (tobacco‐etch‐virus NIa protease). The continuous production of this enzyme in soluble form is quite an expensive process and not easily accessible to many laboratories. Thus an interesting alternative is the use of TEV‐protease in an immobilized form, which may be reutilized several times. The main objective of the present study was to obtain a TEV‐protease in an immobilized form, by covalent immobilization on to solid supports through selective use of different amino acid residues, lysine or cysteine. High protein immobilization yields (75–97%) were obtained with both strategies. The TEV‐protease immobilized through its exposed cysteine thiol groups maintained its ability for cleaving a 20 kDa substrate. While the activity of the immobilized TEV‐protease maintained only 30% of the activity of the enzyme in soluble form, its stability at 4 °C was improved three times. Moreover, this enzyme could be reutilized in at least five cycles of cleavage without loss of performance. The present results indicate that the use of a TEV‐protease in an immobilized form is a potentially useful tool for the cleavage of His tags of recombinant proteins and may be useful for reducing the cost of the total process of cleavage.

Enzymatic generation of chitooligosaccharides from chitosan using soluble and immobilized glycosyltransferase (Branchzyme).

Chitooligosaccharides possessing remarkable biological properties can be obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin. In this work, the chitosanase activity of soluble and immobilized glycosyltransferase (Branchzyme) toward chitosan and biochemical characterization are described for the first time. This enzyme was found to be homotetrameric with a molecular weight of 256 kDa, an isoelectric point of 5.3, and an optimal temperature range of between 50 and 60 °C. It was covalently immobilized to glutaraldehyde-agarose with protein and activity immobilization yields of 67% and 17%, respectively. Immobilization improved enzyme stability, increasing its half-life 5-fold, and allowed enzyme reuse for at least 25 consecutive cycles. The chitosanase activity of Branchzyme on chitosan was similar for the soluble and immobilized forms. The reaction mixture was constituted by chitooligosaccharides with degrees of polymerization of between 2 and 20, with a higher concentration having degrees of polymerization of 3-8.

Enzymatic synthesis of 2-aminoethyl β-D-galactopyranoside catalyzed by Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase.

Glycosidases provide a powerful resource for in vitro synthesis of novel anomerically pure glycosides. Generation of new low molecular weight galactosides is of interest since they are potential galectin inhibitors. Galectins are molecular targets for cancer therapy and thus their inhibitors are potential antitumor agents. Here we report the enzymatic synthesis and structural characterization of 2-aminoethyl β-D-galactopyranoside. Critical parameters for transgalactosylation using either soluble or immobilized enzyme were investigated and optimized for the galactoside synthesis. We found that 0.2 M lactose, and 0.5 M 2-aminoethanol at 50 °C for 30 min were the optimal conditions for synthesis. 2-Aminoethanol proved to be an enzyme inhibitor, fitting a mixed inhibition model with inhibition constants, K(ic)=0.31±0.04 M and K(iu)=0.604±0.035 M.

Chemical thiolation strategy: A determining factor in the properties of thiol-bound biocatalysts

Immobilization of enzymes on thiolsulphinate-agarose, a thiol-reactive support, is a unique method which allows reversible covalent immobilization under mild conditions, so excellent immobilization and activity yields are obtained. It allows both the formation of stable bonds as well as enzyme desorption and matrix regeneration. The impact of the source of the enzymes thiol group involved in the immobilization (native, reduced disulphide or chemically introduced) on the properties of the resulting biocatalysts was studied using three β-galactosidases from Escherichia coli, Kluyveromices lactis and Aspergillus oryzae as a model. Chemical thiolation, which generates changes at surface exposed lysines, produced derivatives similar to their soluble counterparts. However, the reduction of native disulphide bonds prior to immobilization lead to very variable activity and stability of the derivatives depending on the accessibility and location of the disulphide bonds in the enzyme structure.

Fasciola hepatica glycoconjugates immuneregulate dendritic cells through the Dendritic Cell-Specific Intercellular adhesion molecule-3-Grabbing Non-integrin inducing T cell anergy

Dendritic cell-specific ICAM-3 grabbing non-integrin (DC-SIGN) expressed on a variety of DCs, is a C-type lectin receptor that recognizes glycans on a diverse range of pathogens, including parasites. The interaction of DC-SIGN with pathogens triggers specific signaling events that modulate DC-maturation and activity and regulate T-cell activation by DCs. In this work we evaluate whether F. hepatica glycans can immune modulate DCs via DC-SIGN. We demonstrate that DC-SIGN interacts with F. hepatica glycoconjugates through mannose and fucose residues. We also show that mannose is present in high-mannose structures, hybrid and trimannosyl N-glycans with terminal GlcNAc. Furthermore, we demonstrate that F. hepatica glycans induce DC-SIGN triggering leading to a strong production of TLR-induced IL-10 and IL-27p28. In addition, parasite glycans induced regulatory DCs via DC-SIGN that decrease allogeneic T cell proliferation, via the induction of anergic/regulatory T cells, highlighting the role of DC-SIGN in the regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses by F. hepatica. Our data confirm the immunomodulatory properties of DC-SIGN triggered by pathogen-derived glycans and contribute to the identification of immunomodulatory glyans of helminths that might eventually be useful for the design of vaccines against fasciolosis.

Enzymatic synthesis of 3-aminopropyl-1-O-β-D-galactopyranoside catalyzed by Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase

Abstract Glycosidases represent excellent green chemistry alternatives as catalysts for the synthesis of glycosides, and in particular their stereoselectivity allows the production of anomerically pure glycosides, in only one reaction step using mild reaction conditions. Here, we report the enzymatic synthesis and structural characterization of 3-aminopropyl-1-O-β-D-galactopyranoside. Optimal reaction conditions for the transgalactosylation reaction were 100 mM lactose, 500 mM 3-amino-1-propanol and 24 h of incubation at 50 °C with 6 U/mL of β-galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae. The fact that the synthesis of 1-propyl-2-O-β-D-galactopyranoside using 1-amino-2-propanol as acceptor was not achieved, and that N-glycoside formation was not observed, confirms the selectivity of β-galactosidase for the synthesis of O-glycosides, and particularly for primary alcohols. The synthesized galactosides were evaluated for their ability to interact with bovine spleen galectin-1 (Gal-1) by using the hemagglutination inhibition assay; results demonstrated that 3-aminopropyl-1-O-β-D-galactopyranoside may be considered as a functionalized galactose moiety more than an efficient Gal-1 inhibitor. The proposed approach constitutes a promising tool for the generation of glycopolymers and glyconanoparticles with potential applications in the development of biosensors as well as construction blocks in chemical synthesis.