Chitin was functionalized with hexamethylenediamine followed by glutaraldehyde activation, and its capacity to bind Candida rugosa lipase was investigated. The loading of 250 units g(-1) support showed to be effective, resulting in a uniform enzyme fixation with high catalytic activity. Both free and immobilized lipases were characterized by determining the activity profile as a function of pH, temperature, and thermal stability. For the immobilized lipase, the influence of the reaction temperature and substrate polarity in nonconventional biocatalysis was also analyzed. Production of butyl esters was found to be dependent on the substrate partition coefficient, which accounts the greatest value for the system butanol and butyric acid. The highest enzyme activity was found for the system butanol and caprylic acid at a reaction temperature of 40 degrees C. Under such conditions, the operational stability tests indicated that a small enzyme deactivation occurs after 12 batches, revealing a biocatalyst half-life of 426.7 h.

Recebido em 11/5/05; aceito em 27/10/05; publicado na web em 31/3/06 ASSESSMENT OF CATALYTIC PROPERTIES IN AQUEOUS AND ORGANIC MEDIA OF LIPASE FROM Candida rugosa IMMOBILIZED ON WOOD CELLULIGNIN ACTIVATED WITH CARBONYLDIIMIDAZOLE. Microbial lipase from Candida rugosa was immobilized by covalent binding on wood cellulignin (Eucaliptus grandis) chemically modified with carbonyldiimidazole. The immobilized system was fully evaluated in aqueous (olive oil hydrolysis) and organic (ester synthesis) media. A comparative study between free and immobilized lipase was carried out in terms of pH, temperature and thermal stability. A higher pH value (8.0) was found optimal for the immobilized lipase. The optimal reaction temperature shifted from 37 °C for the free lipase to 45 °C for the immobilized lipase. The pattern of heat stability indicated that the immobilization process tends to stabilize the enzyme. Kinetics tests at 37 °C following the hydrolysis of olive oil obeyed the Michaelis-Menten rate equation. Values for K m = 924.9 mM and V max = 198.3 U/mg were lower than for free lipase, suggesting that the affinity towards the substrate changed and the activity of the immobilized lipase decreased during the course of immobilization. The immobilized derivative was also tested in the ester synthesis from several alcohols and carboxylic acids.Keywords: cellulignin; lipase; immobilization. INTRODUÇÃOOs processos que utilizam lipases são especialmente atraentes em função das diferentes aplicações desta enzima. As lipases podem catalisar reações de hidrólise, esterificação e interesterificação, com extrema simplicidade de processo, qualidade superior do produto final e excelente rendimento 1-3 . Estas características conferem às lipases um potencial biotecnológico comparável ao das proteases e carboidrases -enzimas industrialmente utilizadas -estimulando pesquisas para otimização da sua produção, caracterização, imobilização e aplicação industrial 2,3 .Idealmente os sistemas catalisados por lipases devem ser tratados caso a caso e as generalizações devem ser praticadas com cautela 2 . Portanto, a seleção das condições adequadas na catálise enzimática em meios não convencionais deve seguir uma cuidadosa manipulação do meio-ambiente do biocatalisador, de tal forma que a produtividade do sistema seja maximizada por meio da potencialidade total da atividade enzimática 2 . Isto pode ser alcançado pela utilização de solventes apropriados 4,5 , controle do teor de água no meio reacional 6,7 e imobilização da enzima em suportes sólidos [8][9][10] . A imobilização tem efeito benéfico na estabilidade da enzima, em função das interações físicas e químicas entre o suporte e as molécu-las da enzima. A imobilização também auxilia na dispersão homogênea da enzima no meio, o que é essencial para a condução de reações enzimáticas 9,10 .As propriedades dos derivados imobilizados são influenciadas tanto pelas propriedades da enzima como pelo material do suporte 2,11 . A interação entre esses dois componentes proporciona um derivado imobilizado...

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Despite the significant increase in the generation of SARS-CoV-2 contaminated domestic and hospital wastewater, little is known about the ecotoxicological effects of the virus or its structural components in freshwater vertebrates. In this context, this study evaluated the deleterious effects caused by SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein on the health of Danio rerio , zebrafish. We demonstrated, for the first time, that zebrafish injected with fragment 16 to 165 (rSpike), which corresponds to the N-terminal portion of the protein, presented mortalities and adverse effects on liver, kidney, ovary and brain tissues. The conserved genetic homology between zebrafish and humans might be one of the reasons for the intense toxic effects followed inflammatory reaction from the immune system of zebrafish to rSpike which provoked damage to organs in a similar pattern as happen in severe cases of COVID-19 in humans, and, resulted in 78,6% of survival rate in female adults during the first seven days. The application of spike protein in zebrafish was highly toxic that is suitable for future studies to gather valuable information about ecotoxicological impacts, as well as vaccine responses and therapeutic approaches in human medicine. Therefore, besides representing an important tool to assess the harmful effects of SARS-CoV-2 in the aquatic environment, we present the zebrafish as an animal model for translational COVID-19 research.

Establishing new experimental animal models to assess the safety and immune response to the antigen used in the development of COVID-19 vaccine is an imperative issue. Based on the advantages of using zebrafish as a model in research, herein we suggest doing this to test the safety of the putative vaccine candidates and to study immune response against the virus. We produced a recombinant N-terminal fraction of the Spike SARS-CoV-2 protein and injected it into adult female zebrafish. The specimens generated humoral immunity and passed the antibodies to the eggs. However, they presented adverse reactions and inflammatory responses similar to severe cases of human COVID-19. The analysis of the structure and function of zebrafish and human Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the main human receptor for virus infection, presented remarkable sequence similarities. Moreover, bioinformatic analysis predicted protein-protein interaction of the Spike SARS-CoV-2 fragment and the Toll-like receptor pathway. It might help in the choice of future therapeutic pharmaceutical drugs to be studied. Based on the in vivo and in silico results presented here, we propose the zebrafish as a model for translational research into the safety of the vaccine and the immune response of the vertebrate organism to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

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