Eicosapentaenoic acid monoglyceride (EPAMG) has garnered
significant
attention due to its better digestion properties compared to EPA diglyceride
and EPA triglyceride. However, current strategies for synthesizing
EPAMG hit a bottleneck ascribed to the absence of enzymes specific
to the product, resulting in a mixture of various glycerides as reaction
products. This study demonstrates that esterase Est7 can specifically
synthesize EPAMG through the esterification of EPA and glycerol. Additionally,
an efficient oil/water (O/W) Pickering emulsion (PE) reaction system
utilizing whole Escherichia coli cells with surface-displayed
Est7 was developed to improve the catalytic efficiency, leveraging
the surface display capability of Est7. The conversion rate of EPAMG
under the optimal reaction conditions reached 54.55%, accounting for
more than 95% of all glycerides produced. Surprisingly, this system
achieved improved mass transfer without stirring, leading to a reduced
energy consumption and lower demands for reaction equipment. This
system demonstrated a notable advantage in esterification efficiency
compared to other systems, such as micro-aquatic (0.81%) and solvent-free
(0.35%) systems, indicating the considerable potential of combining
PE with cell-surface display technology.