The stability of the α-amylase enzyme has been improved from Aspergillus fumigatus using the immobilization method on a bentonite matrix. Therefore, this study aims to obtain the higher stability of α-amylase enzyme from A. fumigatus; hence, it is used repeatedly to reduce industrial costs. The procedures involved enzyme production, isolation, partial purification, immobilization, and characterization. Furthermore, the soluble enzyme was immobilized using 0.1 M phosphate buffer of pH 7.5 on a bentonite matrix, after which it was characterized with the following parameters such as optimum temperature, Michaelis constant (KM), maximum velocity V max , thermal inactivation rate constant (ki), half-life (t1/2), and the change of energy due to denaturation (ΔGi). The results showed that the soluble enzyme has an optimum temperature of 55°C, KM of 3.04 mg mL−1 substrate, V max of 10.90 μmole mL−1 min−1, ki of 0.0171 min−1, t1/2 of 40.53 min, and ΔGi of 104.47 kJ mole−1, while the immobilized enzyme has an optimum temperature of 70°C, KM of 8.31 mg mL−1 substrate, V max of 1.44 μmole mL−1 min−1, ki of 0.0060 min−1, t1/2 of 115.50 min, and ΔGi of 107.37 kJ mole−1. Considering the results, the immobilized enzyme retained 42% of its residual activity after six reuse cycles. Additionally, the stability improvement of the α-amylase enzyme by immobilization on a bentonite matrix, based on the increase in half-life, was three times greater than the soluble enzyme.

Enzyme immobilization is a powerful method to improve the stability, reuse, and enzymatic properties of enzymes. The immobilization of the α-amylase enzyme from Aspergillus fumigatus on a chitin-bentonite (CB) hybrid has been studied to improve its stability. Therefore, this study aims to obtain the higher stability of α-amylase enzyme to reduce industrial costs. The procedures were performed as follows: production, isolation, partial purification, immobilization, and characterization of the free and immobilized enzymes. The CB hybrid was synthesized by bentonite, chitin, and glutaraldehyde as a cross-linker. The free enzyme was immobilized onto CB hybrid using 0.1 M phosphate buffer pH 7.5. The free and immobilized enzymes were characterized by optimum temperature, Michaelis constant (KM), maximum velocity V max , thermal inactivation rate constant (ki), half-life (t1/2), and transformation of free energy because of denaturation (ΔGi). The free enzyme has optimum temperature of 55°C, KM = 3.04 mg mL−1 substrate, V max = 10.90   μ molemL − 1 min − 1 , ki = 0.0171 min−1, t1/2 = 40.53 min, and ΔGi = 104.47 kJ mole−1. Meanwhile, the immobilized enzyme has optimum temperature of 60°C, KM = 11.57 mg mL−1 substrate, V max = 3.37   μ molemL − 1 min − 1 , ki = 0.0045 min−1, t1/2 = 154.00 min, and ΔGi = 108.17 kJ mole−1. After sixth cycle of reuse, the residual activity of the immobilized enzyme was 38%. The improvement in the stability of α-amylase immobilized on the CB hybrid based on the increase in half-life was four times of the free enzyme.

In this research, immobilization of A. fumigatus α-amylase on chitin was studied with the main purpose to improve the characteristics of the enzyme. A series of experiments were carried out to study stability improvement, thermodynamic parameters, include ki, ΔGi, and t½, and reusability of the immobilized enzyme. The experimental results indicate that significant thermal stability was achieved, as indicates by the ability of the enzyme to retain its relative activity above 39% after 80 min of incubation at 60oC. Thermodynamic parameters, include ki, ΔGi, and t½, indicate that the immobilized enzyme is more rigid, stable, and less flexible in the water, resulting in increased stability up to 1.5 times compared to that of the native enzyme. Furthermore, the immobilized enzyme was able to retain over 46% of its initial activity after six consecutive applications for starch hydrolysis, confirming the potential of chitin for the production of immobilized enzymes on an industrial scale. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-01-06 Full Text: PDF