Twenty-eight fungal feruloyl esterases (FAEs) were evaluated for their synthetic abilities in a ternary system of n-hexane: t-butanol: 100 mM MOPS-NaOH pH 6.0 forming detergentless microemulsions. Five main derivatives were synthesized, namely prenyl ferulate, prenyl caffeate, butyl ferulate, glyceryl ferulate, and L-arabinose ferulate, offering, in general, higher yields when more hydrophilic alcohol substitutions were used. Acetyl xylan esterase-related FAEs belonging to phylogenetic subfamilies (SF) 5 and 6 showed increased synthetic yields among tested enzymes. In particular, it was shown that FAEs belonging to SF6 generally transesterified aliphatic alcohols more efficiently while SF5 members preferred bulkier L-arabinose. Predicted surface properties and structural characteristics were correlated with the synthetic potential of selected tannase-related, acetyl-xylan-related, and lipase-related FAEs (SF1-2, -6, -7 members) based on homology modeling and small molecular docking simulations.
The immobilisation of four feruloyl esterases (FAEs) (FaeA1, FaeA2, FaeB1, FaeB2) from the thermophilic fungus Myceliophthora thermophila C1 was studied and optimised via physical adsorption onto various mesoporous silica particles with pore diameters varying from 6.6nm to 10.9nm. Using crude enzyme preparations, enrichment of immobilised FAEs was observed, depending on pore diameter and protein size. The immobilised enzymes were successfully used for the synthesis of butyl ferulate through transesterification of methyl ferulate with 1-butanol. Although the highest butyl ferulate yields were obtained with free enzyme, the synthesis-to-hydrolysis ratio was higher when using immobilised enzymes. Over 90% of the initial activity was observed in a reusability experiment after nine reaction cycles, each lasting 24h. Rinsing with solvent to remove water from the immobilised enzymes further improved their activity. This study demonstrates the suitability of immobilised crude enzyme preparations in the development of biocatalysts for esterification reactions.
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