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α-L-Arabinofuranosidase (Abf) is a potential enzyme because of its synergistic effect with other hemicellulases in agro-industrial field. In this study, directed evolution was applied to Abf from Geobacillus vulcani GS90 (GvAbf) using one round error-prone PCR and constructed a library of 73 enzyme variants of GvAbf. The activity screening of the enzyme variants was performed on soluble protein extracts using p-nitrophenyl α-L-arabinofuranoside as substrate. Two high activity displaying variants (GvAbf L307S and GvAbf Q90H/L307S) were selected, purified, partially characterized, and structurally analyzed. The specific activities of both variants were almost 2.5-fold more than that of GvAbf. Both GvAbf variants also exhibited higher thermal stability but lower alkaline stability in reference to GvAbf. The structural analysis of GvAbf model indicated that two mutation sites Q90H and L307S in both GvAbf variants are located in TIM barrel domain, responsible for catalytic action in many Glycoside Hydrolase Families including GH51. The structure of GvAbf model displayed that the position of L307S mutation is closer to the catalytic residues of GvAbf compared with Q90H mutation and also L307S mutation is conserved in both variants of GvAbf. Therefore, it was hypothesized that L307S amino acid substitution may play a critical role in catalytic activity of GvAbf.

α-l-Arabinofuranosidases with an orchestral action of xylanolytic enzymes degrades the xylan in plant cell wall. In this study, heterologous expression, biochemical characterization, and synergistic action of α-l-Arabinofuranosidase from previously identified.Geobacillus vulcani GS90 (GvAbf) was investigated. The recombinant α-l-Arabinofuranosidase was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (λDE) and purified via His-tag Ni-affinity and size-exclusion chromatography. Optimum activity of the purified α-l-Arabinofuranosidase was obtained at pH 5 and at 70 °C. The GvAbf was active in a broad pH and temperature ranges; pH 4-9 and 30-90 °C, respectively. In addition, it retained most of its activity after an hour incubation at 70 °C and remained relatively stable at pH 3-6. GvAbf was quite stable against various metal ions. The kinetic parameters of GvAbf was obtained as V max and K m ; 200 U/mg and 0.2 mM with p-nitrophenyl-α-l-arabinofuranoside and 526 U/mg and 0.1 mM with sugar beet arabinan, respectively. The synergistic action of GvAbf was studied with commercially available xylanase on juice enrichment of apples, grapes, oranges, and peaches. The best juice enrichment in terms of clarity, reducing sugar content, and yield, was achieved with GvAbf and xylanase together compared to treatment with xylanase and GvAbf alone in all fruits. The treatment with GvAbf and xylanase together lead to an increased juice yield by 26.56% (apple), 30.88% (grape), 40.00% (orange) and 32.20% (peach) as well as having a significant effect on juice clarity by an increase of % transmittance 47.26, 25.98, 41.77, and 44.97, respectively. The highest reducing sugar level of fruit juices also obtained with GvAbf and xylanase together compared to treatment with xylanase and GvAbf alone in all types of fruits. GvAbf and xylanase together as simultaneous synergistic manner may have an exciting potential for application in fruit juice processing.

High-throughput aging studies with yeast as a model organism involve transposon-mutagenesis and yeast knockout collection, which have been pivotal strategies for understanding the complex cellular aging process. In this study, a chronologically long-lived Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant was successfully obtained by using another high-throughput approach, evolutionary engineering, based on systematic selection in successive batch cultures under gradually increasing levels of caloric restriction. Detailed comparative physiological and transcriptomic analyses of the chronologically long-lived mutant and the reference strain revealed enhanced levels of respiratory metabolism, upregulation of genes related to carbohydrate metabolic processes, glycogen-trehalose pathways, stress response, and repression of protein synthesis-related genes in the long-lived mutant SRM11, already in the absence of caloric restriction. Interestingly, SRM11 had also significantly higher resistance to copper stress, and higher resistance to silver, ethanol, and 2-phenylethanol stresses than the reference strain. It also had lower ethanol production levels and an enhanced ethanol catabolism. To conclude, evolutionary engineering is another powerful high-throughput method for aging research, in addition to its widespread use in industrial strain development. Additionally, the interesting results revealed by this study about the potential relationship between longevity and various cellular properties are yet to be investigated further at molecular level.

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Proteases account for approximately 60% of the enzyme market in the world, and they are used in various industrial applications including the detergent industry. In this study, production and characterization of a novel serine protease of thermophilic Geobacillus sp. GS53 from Balçova geothermal region, İzmir, Turkey, were performed. The thermostable protease was purified through ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange chromatography. The results showed that the protease had 137.8 U mg −1 of specific activity and optimally worked at 55 o C and pH 8. It was also active in a broad pH (4-10) and temperature (25-75 °C) ranges. The protease was highly stable at 85 °C and demonstrated relative stability at pH 4, 7, and 10. Also, the enzyme had high stability against organic solvents and surfactants; enzyme relative activity did not decrease below 81% upon preincubation for 10 min. Ca 2+ , Cu 2+ , and Zn 2+ ions slightly induced protease activity. The protease was highly specific to casein, skim milk, Hammerstein casein, and BSA substrates. These results revealed that the protease might have a potential effect in a variety of industrial fields, especially the detergent industry, because of its high thermostability and stability to surfactants.

BACKGROUND: Esterases (EC 3.1.1.1), a class of hydrolases, degrade the ester bonds of lipids into alcohol and carboxylic acids and synthesize carboxylic ester bonds. They are used in a variety of biotechnological, industrial, environmental, and pharmaceutical applications due to their many valuable properties. Particularly, extremophilic esterases with many superior properties are of great interest for various reactions. Immobilization of enzymes may provide some advantages over free enzymes not only to improve the properties of enzymes but also to increase the reusability of biocatalyst in industrial applications. Therefore, many different immobilization applications for enzymes have been reported in various studies. To our knowledge, a thermophilic esterase has not so far been immobilized by entrapment using chitosan/calcium/alginate-blended beads. Here, we reported the immobilization of thermoalkalophilic recombinant esterase by entrapment using chitosan/calcium/alginateblended beads, and then the entrapped esterase was characterized biochemically in details.RESULTS: In the present study, a thermophilic recombinant esterase was immobilized by entrapment in chitosan/calcium/alginateblended beads for the first time. The 0.5 mg mL −1 purified recombinant esterase was entrapped in 1% chitosan, 2% alginate, and 0.7 M CaCl 2 blended beads. The results showed that immobilization yield and entrapment efficiency of the entrapped esterase were 69.5% and 80.4%, respectively. SEM micrograph showed that the surface of the beads resembled a mesh and very compact structures. Chitosan/calcium/alginate-blended beads exhibited an 18.8% swelling ratio and had a moderate porous structure. The entrapment technique highly enhanced the thermostability of the esterase and shifted its optimum temperature from 65 to 80°C. The immobilized esterase was very stable in a wide range of pH (8.5-11) displaying maximum activity at pH 9. ZnCl 2 slightly increased the activity of immobilized esterase whereas several metal ions reduced the enzyme activity. When the enzyme was immobilized in chitosan/calcium/alginate-blended beads, its K m increased about 2 times and V max value decreased almost 1.5 times. Immobilization allowed repeated uses of the esterase having good operational stability in a continuous process. CONCLUSION:The results revealed that the immobilization of a thermophilic recombinant esterase by entrapment in chitosan/ calcium/alginate-blended beads exhibited considerably better compared to other immobilization processes with various entrapment strategies.

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