Our current global environmental challenges include the reduction of harmful chemicals and their derivatives. Bioremediation has been a key strategy to control the massive presence of chemicals in the environment. Enzymes including the phenoloxidases, laccases and tyrosinases, are increasingly being investigated as "green products" in the removal of many chemical contaminants in waters and soils. Both phenoloxidases are widespread in nature and attractive biocatalysts due to their ability to use readily available molecular oxygen as sole cofactor for their catalytic elimination of a large number of chemicals. Taking advantage of their catalytic potentials, remarkable advances have been made in the engineering of laccases to produce suitable biocatalysts in environmental applications. Studies about novel strategies of laccase immobilization and insolubilization for the treatment of chemical contaminants were provided. Likewise, tyrosinases are gaining increasing interest in environmental applications due to their catalytic similarities with laccases although they remain far less investigated to date. This disparity was addressed in this review along with the molecular features and catalytic mechanism of tyrosinases relevant in environmental applications. A perspective on the future use of laccases and tyrosinases in bioremediation was discussed.
In the present study, Candida antarctica lipase B was immobilized on amine‐functionalized silica microspheres as cross‐linked enzyme aggregates (CLEA) and utilized for the biomanufacturing of rhamnolipids (RL). Lipase CLEA synthesized under optimized conditions of 2.0:1.0 by volume of silica microsphere/enzyme concentration, a 1.0:2.5 (v/v) ratio of enzyme/2‐propanol, 7 mM glutaraldehyde concentration, when incubated at pH 9.0 and 40 °C, for a cross‐linking time of 30 min were observed to exhibit superior biocatalytic properties and a maximum enzyme load of 770 U g−1. Lipase CLEA exhibited enhanced pH stability in acidic and alkaline media and increased temperature resistance as compared to free lipase. Both free and CLEA lipases were used to synthesize RL in different solvent systems. After 12 h, from initiation of the esterification, the degree of esterification (molar conversion yield) reached 46% and 71% in the batch mode. 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and high‐performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) analysis confirm RL production by CLEA lipase. The CLEA showed greater confrontation to enzyme‐mediated bioprocess approach as compared to its soluble counterpart and exhibited excellent RL production and catalytic activity even after its tenth successive reuse.
Aspergillus niger produced high levels of naringinase using easily available, inexpensive industrial waste residues such as rice bran, wheat bran, sugar cane bagasse, citrus peel, and press mud in solid‐state fermentation (SSF). Among these, rice bran was found to be the best substrate. Naringinase production was highest after 96 h of incubation at 27°C and at a substrate‐to‐moisture ratio of 1:1 w/v. Supplementation of the medium with 10% naringin caused maximum induction. An inoculum age of 72 h and an inoculum level of 15% resulted in maximum production of naringinase. Enzyme production was stimulated by the addition of nutrients such as naringin and peptone. Thus, A. niger produced a very high level of naringinase within a short time in solid‐state fermentation using inexpensive agro‐residues, a level that is much higher than reported for any other microbes.
Inulinase (2, 1‐β‐D‐fructan fructanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.7) hydrolyses inulin into nearly pure fructose, which is an excellent alternative for the production of fructose syrup. Growing inulinase utilization in different industries encourages the search for high benefit/cost ratio purification techniques for such enzymes. Here, we adapted the three‐phase partitioning (TPP) technique for the downstream process of inulinase obtained from Aspergillus niger. TPP is a simple non‐chromatographic process used for purification and concentration of protein. The various conditions required for attaining efficient purification of inulinase were optimized. The optimum conditions for TPP were found to be 30% w/v ammonium sulfate saturation with 1.0 : 0.5 v/v ratio of t‐butanol to crude extract at pH 4.0 and temperature 25°C. The enzyme was purified by 10.2‐fold using two‐step TPP with an overall recovery of 88%. The enzyme's molecular mass was found to be 63.8 kDa by SDS‐PAGE analysis. Terminal hydrolysis fructose units from the inulin show that enzymes are exo‐inulinase. The recovery of purified exo‐inulinase achieved in this work shows the technical viability of enzyme purification by TPP.
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