Teodora Bavaro

Modulation of the Microenvironment Surrounding the Active Site of Penicillin G Acylase Immobilized on Acrylic Carriers Improves the Enzymatic Synthesis of Cephalosporins

The catalytic properties of penicillin G acylase (PGA) from Escherichia coli in kinetically controlled synthesis of β-lactam antibiotics are negatively affected upon immobilization on hydrophobic acrylic carriers. Two strategies have been here pursued to improve the synthetic performance of PGA immobilized on epoxy-activated acrylic carriers. First, an aldehyde-based spacer was inserted on the carrier surface by glutaraldehyde activation (immobilization yield = 50%). The resulting 3-fold higher synthesis/hydrolysis ratio (vs/vh1 = 9.7 ± 0.7 and 10.9 ± 0.7 for Eupergit® C and Sepabeads® EC-EP, respectively) with respect to the unmodified support (vs/vh1 = 3.3 ± 0.4) was ascribed to a facilitated diffusion of substrates and products as a result of the increased distance between the enzyme and the carrier surface. A second series of catalysts was prepared by direct immobilization of PGA on epoxy-activated acrylic carriers (Eupergit® C), followed by quenching of oxiranes not involved in the binding with the protein with different nucleophiles (amino acids, amines, amino alcohols, thiols and amino thiols). In most cases, this derivatization increased the synthesis/hydrolysis ratio with respect to the non derivatized carrier. Particularly, post-immobilization treatment with cysteine resulted in about 2.5-fold higher vs/vh1 compared to the untreated biocatalyst, although the immobilization yield decreased from 70% (untreated Eupergit® C) to 20%. Glutaraldehyde- and cysteine-treated Eupergit® C catalyzed the synthesis of cefazolin in 88% (±0.9) and 87% (±1.6) conversion, respectively, whereas untreated Eupergit® C afforded this antibiotic in 79% (±1.2) conversion.

Characterization and study of the orientation of immobilized enzymes by tryptic digestion and HPLC-MS: design of an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of cephalosporins.

An innovative approach to determine the orientation of penicillin G acylase (PGA) from Escherichia coli covalently immobilized onto solid supports has been developed. This method is based on tryptic digestion of immobilized PGA followed by HPLC-MS analysis of the released peptides which are supposed to be only those exposed toward the reaction medium and not directly bound to the solid support. To this purpose, PGA was immobilized on Eupergit C (acrylic hydrophobic resin) and glyoxyl-agarose (hydrophilic resin) functionalized with epoxy and aldehyde groups, respectively, both involving the Lys residues of the protein. The peptide maps obtained were analyzed to derive the orientation of immobilized PGA, as the position of the detected Lys gave indication concerning the accessibility of the different areas of the protein. The results indicate that PGA immobilization on both supports involves mainly Lys located near the binding pocket (70%). Some differences in the enzyme orientation on the two supports can be deduced by the presence of different unbound Lys residues in the released peptides, specific to each support (Lys 117alpha for PGA-Eupergit C; Lys 163alpha and Lys 165alpha for PGA-glyoxyl-agarose). These results have been correlated with the data obtained in the kinetically controlled synthesis and indicate that the orientation of PGA on both supports is partially unfavorable, driving the active site near the support surface. This type of orientation of the enzyme enhances the effect of the nature of the support and of the binding chemistry on the catalytic properties. The information obtained indicated the most suitable support and activation strategy to design an immobilized acylase with good synthetic properties for preparative processes. The glyoxyl-Eupergit C support with enhanced porosity synergically combines the mechanical stability and synthetic performances of immobilized PGA and was successfully used in the synthesis of several cephalosporins.

Characterization of intact neo-glycoproteins by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography.

In this study, an HPLC HILIC-UV method was developed for the analysis of intact neo-glycoproteins. During method development the experimental conditions evaluated involved different HILIC columns (TSKgel Amide-80 and ZIC-pHILIC), and water-acetonitrile mixtures containing various types of acids and salts. The final selected method was based on a TSKgel Amide-80 column and a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and water both containing 10 mM HClO4. The influence of temperature and sample preparation on the chromatographic performances of the HILIC method was also investigated. The method was applied to the separation of neo-glycoproteins prepared starting from the model protein RNase A by chemical conjugation of different glycans. Using the method here reported it was possible to monitor by UV detection the glycosylation reaction and assess the distribution of neo-glycoprotein isoforms without laborious sample workup prior to analysis.

Enzymatic synthesis of cephalosporins. The immobilized acylase from Arthrobacter viscosus: a new useful biocatalyst.

The acylase from Arthrobacter viscosus was immobilized, studied in the enzymatic synthesis of some cephalosporins by kinetically controlled N-acylation (kcNa) of different cephem nuclei, and compared with the penicillin G acylase (PGA) from Escherichia coli. The reaction outcomes were dependent on the acylase microbial source and on the type of immobilization support. Generally, both enzymes, when immobilized onto hydrophilic resins such as glyoxyl-agarose (activated with aldehyde groups), displayed higher synthetic performances in comparison with hydrophobic acrylic epoxy-supports like Eupergit C. The kcNa of 7-amino cephalosporanic acid catalyzed by A. viscosus immobilized on glyoxyl-agarose afforded a quantitative conversion in 7-[(1-hydroxy-1-phenyl)-acetamido]-3-acetoxymethyl-Δ3-cephem-4-carboxylic acid, a useful intermediate for the synthesis of Cefamandole and Cefonicid. Similar results were obtained in the synthesis of these cephalosporins by direct acylation of the corresponding 3′-functionalized nucleus. In these reactions, A. viscosus displayed higher synthetic performances than the PGA from E. coli.

Immobilized lysozyme for the continuous lysis of lactic bacteria in wine: Bench-scale fluidized-bed reactor study

Lysozyme from hen egg white (HEWL) was covalently immobilized on spherical supports based on microbial chitosan in order to develop a system for the continuous, efficient and food-grade enzymatic lysis of lactic bacteria (Oenococcus oeni) in white and red wine. The objective is to limit the sulfur dioxide dosage required to control malolactic fermentation, via a cell concentration typical during this process. The immobilization procedure was optimized in batch mode, evaluating the enzyme loading, the specific activity, and the kinetic parameters in model wine. Subsequently, a bench-scale fluidized-bed reactor was developed, applying the optimized process conditions. HEWL appeared more effective in the immobilized form than in the free one, when the reactor was applied in real white and red wine. This preliminary study suggests that covalent immobilization renders the enzyme less sensitive to the inhibitory effect of wine flavans.

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of neoglycoproteins driven by the assessment of protein surface reactivity

In this paper a series of 2-iminomethoxyethyl mannose-based mono- and disaccharides have been synthesized by a chemoenzymatic approach and used in coupling reactions with e-amino groups of lysine residues in a model protein (ribonuclease A, RNase A) to give semisynthetic neoglycoconjugates. In order to study the influence of structure of the glycans on the conjugation outcomes, an accurate characterization of the prepared neoglycoproteins was performed by a combination of ESI-MS and LC-MS analytical methods. The analyses of the chymotryptic digests of the all neoglycoconjugates revealed six Lys-glycosylation sites with a the following order of lysine reactivity: Lys 1 ≫ Lys 91 ≅ Lys 31 > Lys 61 ≅ Lys 66. A computational analysis of the reactivity of each lysine residue has been also carried out considering several parameters (amino acids surface exposure and pKa, protein flexibility). The in silico evaluation seems to confirm the order in lysine reactivity resulting from proteomic analysis.

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry structural characterization of neo glycoproteins aiding the rational design and synthesis of a novel glycovaccine for protection against tuberculosis.

Hereby we describe a pilot study for the rational design and synthesis of a glycoconjugate vaccine against Tuberculosis (TB) by site-specific coupling of well-defined glycans to non-antigenic amino acids in a selected protein carrier. A combination of ESI-MS and LC-MS analytical methods was applied for the systematic characterization of the reactivity of the surface amino acids in the glycosylation reaction with monosaccharides towards 2-iminomethoxyethyl or homobifunctional (4-nitrophenyl ester) linkers, both on the model protein, ribonuclease A (RNase A) and on TB10.4, the simplest antigenic protein isolated from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Intact protein analysis was carried out to quantify the glycosylation degree and profile the glycoform composition of all the prepared neo glycoconjugates, while pronase and chymotriptic digests were analyzed to map and rank the reactivity of protein residues. Neo glycopeptides were purified by on-line porous graphitized carbon solid-phase extraction, separated by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography and analyzed by electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS(n)). Significantly, different site specificity and glycosylation efficiency were demonstrated for the two linkers, resulting in structurally diverse glycoconjugates. A computational analysis of the amino acids involved in the epitope formation in TB10.4 addressed the choice to 2-iminomethoxyethyl-saccharide activation, that resulted in a more targeted and selective conjugation preserving the protein antigenicity. Additionally, a rational design of experiments lead to the identification of suitable experimental conditions for the preparation of highly pure and homogeneous neo glycoconjugates.

Development of regioselective deacylation of peracetylated β-D-monosaccharides using lipase from Pseudomonas stutzeri under sustainable conditions

The lipase-catalyzed regioselective deacylation of peracetylated pyranosides has been evaluated in biosolvents. Among the biocatalysts tested, lipase from Pseudomonas stutzeri showed the highest activity, displaying regiospecific activity towards the anomeric position. This lipase was also employed in the regioselective alcoholysis of peracetylated sugars in green solvents, contributing to improve the sustainability of the process. Yields up to 97% of the desired product with different biosolvents were found. These reactions took place without noticeable activity and with total regioselectivity, representing a considerable improvement over the use of an aqueous buffer or conventional organic solvents. Furthermore, scaled up reactions are feasible without losing catalytic action. In order to understand the role of these biosolvents in the enzymes synthetic behaviour, molecular modelling and docking studies were performed in the presence of some selected biosolvents to conclude that the presence of biosolvents in the reaction media modifies the access of the alcohols to the enzymatic active site allowing the presence of small alcohols and not i-propyl and t-butyl residues in the alcohol.

Regioselective enzymatic hydrolysis of hexa-O-acetyl-lactal in a green non-aqueous medium

A purified lipase fraction from Rhizomucor miehei (RML) was immobilized and used to selectively hydrolyze hexa-O-acetyl-lactal 1 to penta-O-acetyl-3-hydroxylactal 2. The reaction was performed in low water content tert-butanol (7% USP water), thus allowing the control of by-product formation. This solvent was superior to the established buffer/acetonitrile system in terms of reagent/product solubility, biocatalyst stability and environmental impact. The reaction was scaled up to 28 g L−1 (50 mM) affording the product 2 in very high yield (85%) and purity (98%).

Recombinant lipase from Candida rugosa for regioselective hydrolysis of peracetylated nucleosides. A comparison with commercial non-recombinant lipases

Abstract Commercial lipases from the yeast Candida rugosa have been compared with two recombinant C. rugosa lipases, rCRL1 and rCRL1lid3, with respect to their immobilization and exploitation in biotransformations aimed at the synthesis of pyrimidine nucleosides. Immobilization on octyl-agarose and decaoctyl-Sepabeads but not on Eupergit® C gave comparable results to commercial lipases for rCRL1, while only a low percentage (12%) of rCRL1lid3 was efficiently immobilized. When immobilized on decaoctyl-Sepabeads, rCRL1 showed a markedly higher stability to chemical inactivation, since it could maintain 100% activity after 180 h incubation in 30% (v/v) acetonitrile. Hydrolysis of peracylated uridine and cytidine and their fluorinated counterparts proceeded with high regioselectivity and good yield, and even improved when rCRL1 was immobilized on decaoctyl-Sepabeads.