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Non-covalent interaction of alcohol dehydrogenase with polysaccharides was studied using three neutral and three anionic polysaccharides. The process of interaction of alcohol dehydrogenase with gum Arabic was optimized with respect to the ratio of enzyme to gum Arabic, pH, and molarity of buffer. Alcohol dehydrogenase-gum Arabic complex formed under optimized conditions showed 93 % retention of original activity with enhanced thermal and pH stability. Lower inactivation rate constant of alcohol dehydrogenase-gum Arabic complex within the temperature range of 45 to 60 °C implied its better stability. Half-life of alcohol dehydrogenase-gum Arabic complex was higher than that of free alcohol dehydrogenase. A slight increment was observed in kinetic constants ( K and V) of gum Arabic-complexed alcohol dehydrogenase which may be due to interference by gum Arabic for the binding of substrate to the enzyme. Helix to turn conversion was observed in complexed alcohol dehydrogenase as compared to free alcohol dehydrogenase which may be responsible for observed stability enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous production of acetone, n-butanol, and ethanol (ABE) was carried out using immobilized cells of Clostridium acetobutylicum DSM 792 using glucose and sugar mixture as a substrate. Among various lignocellulosic materials screened as a support matrix, coconut fibers and wood pulp fibers were found to be promising in batch experiments. With a motive of promoting wood-based bio-refinery concept, wood pulp was used as a cell holding material. Glucose and sugar mixture (glucose, mannose, galactose, arabinose, and xylose) comparable to lignocellulose hydrolysate was used as a substrate for continuous production of ABE. We report the best solvent productivity among wild-type strains using column reactor. The maximum total solvent concentration of 14.32 g L was obtained at a dilution rate of 0.22 h with glucose as a substrate compared to 12.64 g L at 0.5 h dilution rate with sugar mixture. The maximum solvent productivity (13.66 g L h) was obtained at a dilution rate of 1.9 h with glucose as a substrate whereas solvent productivity (12.14 g L h) was obtained at a dilution rate of 1.5 h with sugar mixture. The immobilized column reactor with wood pulp can become an efficient technology to be integrated with existing pulp mills to convert them into wood-based bio-refineries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The l-rhamnose isomerase gene ( L -rhi) encoding for l-rhamnose isomerase ( l-RhI) from Bacillus pallidus Y25, a facultative thermophilic bacterium, was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli with a cooperation of the 6×His sequence at a C-terminal of the protein. The open reading frame of L -rhi consisted of 1,236 nucleotides encoding 412 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 47,636 Da, showing a good agreement with the native enzyme. Mass-produced l-RhI was achieved in a large quantity (470 mg/l broth) as a soluble protein. The recombinant enzyme was purified to homogeneity by a single step purification using a Ni-NTA affinity column chromatography. The purified recombinant l-RhI exhibited maximum activity at 65°C (pH 7.0) under assay conditions, while 90% of the initial enzyme activity could be retained after incubation at 60°C for 60 min. The apparent affinity ( K m) and catalytic efficiency ( k cat/ K m) for l-rhamnose (at 65°C) were 4.89 mM and 8.36 × 105 M−1 min−1, respectively. The enzyme demonstrated relatively low levels of amino acid sequence similarity (42 and 12%), higher thermostability, and different substrate specificity to those of E. coli and Pseudomonas stutzeri, respectively. The enzyme has a good catalyzing activity at 50°C, for d-allose, l-mannose, d-ribulose, and l-talose from d-psicose, l-fructose, d-ribose and l-tagatose with a conversion yield of 35, 25, 16 and 10%, respectively, without a contamination of by-products. These findings indicated that the recombinant l-RhI from B. pallidus is appropriate for use as a new source of rare sugar producing enzyme on a mass scale production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]