Enzymes isolation

It is likely that any new enzymes isolated by screeners will be quickly and routinely cloned by genetic engineers, and be sequenced and expressed as almost pure proteins. Protein chemists can then evaluate the properties of the new enzyme and determine its three-dimensional stmcture. This vast amount of information allows the protein engineers and their computers to design the enzymes of the future. 

The apphcation of (5)-oxynitrilase has been reported only recendy (159). The enzyme isolated from shoots of Sorghum catalyzes the condensation between various 3- and 4-substituted benzaldehydes and hydrogen cyanide resulting in (5)-cyanohydrins in 80—90% yield and up to 99% ee. 

In designing a process we have the choice of using the whole organism or specific enzymes isolated from it. As always both options have pro s and cons. Broadly speaking we could say that biosynthetic processes mostly rely on whole cells, whereas biotransformations can be catalysed by whole cells and by enzyme preparations. 

Enzymes isolated from micro-organisms have many desirable properties as catalysts for the synthesis of industrial chemicals, but there are associated problems ... 

Some enzymes isolated in studies of primary alcohol sulfate biodegradation are specific for these sulfates [390,396]. However, other enzymes are more versatile. A strain isolated by Payne et al. [408] was capable of hydrolyzing secondary alcohol sulfates and also primary alcohol sulfates. Similar results were found by Vaicum and Eminovici [409]. 

The other enzyme isolated was analogous to acetoin dehydrogenase. 

This key enzyme of the dissimilatory sulfate reduction was isolated from all Desulfovibrio strains studied until now 135), and from some sulfur oxidizing bacteria and thermophilic Archaea 136, 137). The enzymes isolated from sulfate-reducing bacteria contain two [4Fe-4S] clusters and a flavin group (FAD) as demonstrated by visible, EPR, and Mossbauer spectroscopies. With a total molecular mass ranging from 150 to 220 kDa, APS reductases have a subunit composition of the type 012)32 or 02)3. The subunit molecular mass is approximately 70 and 20 kDa for the a and )3 subunits, respectively. Amino-acid sequence data suggest that both iron-sulfur clusters are located in the (3 subunit... 

D. desulfuricans is able to grow on nitrate, inducing two enzymes that responsible for the steps of conversion of nitrate to nitrite (nitrate reductase-NAP), which is an iron-sulfur Mo-containing enzyme, and that for conversion of nitrite to ammonia (nitrite reduc-tase-NIR), which is a heme-containing enzyme. Nitrate reductase from D. desulfuricans is the only characterized enzyme isolated from a sulfate reducer that has this function. The enzyme is a monomer of 74 kDa and contains two MGD bound to a molybdenum and one [4Fe-4S] center (228, 229) in a single polypeptide chain of 753 amino acids. FXAFS data on the native nitrate reductase show that besides the two pterins coordinated to the molybdenum, there is a cysteine and a nonsulfur ligand, probably a Mo-OH (G. N. George, personal communication). 

Amino adds find apphcations as ingredients of infiision solutions for parenteral nutrition and individnally for treatment of specific conditions. They are obtained either by fermentation processes similar to those used for antibiotics or in cell-fiee extracts employing enzymes isolated fiom bacteria (Table 25.1). Details of the mar and varied... 

The A. niger preparation investigated in this study contains at least three different acetyl esterases, each with its own specificity. The activities of RGAE and FAE are comparable to those of similar enzymes isolated previously from A. aculeatus and a different A. niger preparation. PAE appears to be a new enzyme, with an activity specific towards one type of acetyl ester in the homogalacturonan chain of beet pectin. 

D-Aminoacid oxidase has been isolated from a nnmber of yeasts, and the nucleotide sequence of the enzyme from Rhodotorula gracilis ATCC 26217 has been established (Alonso et al. 1998). The gene could be overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and levels of the enzyme were greater under conditions of low aeration the enzyme isolated from the recombinant organisms was apparently the apoenzyme since maximum activity required the presence of FAD. 

Although single-electron-transfer (SET) processes would be expected to be important in reactions that use metals as reagents, this type of process has also been recognized in the reduction of carbonyl groups that involve 1,4-dihydronicotinamide derivatives . Recent work by Oae and coworkers" has shown that an SET process is operative in the reduction of dibenzothiophene S-oxide by l-benzyl-l,4-dihydronicotinamide when the reaction is catalyzed by metalloporphins. The reaction is outlined in equation (18), but the study gave results of much more mechanistic than synthetic value. This type of study is relevant to understanding biochemical mechanisms since it is known that methionine sulphoxide is reduced to methionine by NADPH when the reaction is catalyzed by an enzyme isolated from certain yeasts . 

Such clots—also known as emboli—present a serious hazard by their potential for blocking circulation of blood to vital organs. The considerable research devoted to agents that will lyse the fibrin in clots has led to the development of the clinically useful agent, uj-okinase. This drug is a fibrinolytic proteinaceous enzyme isolated from human urine. The difficulty involved in isolation of significant amounts and the antigenicity of urokinase and a related... 

Amylo-1 —> 6-glucosidase obtained by Cori and Larner218 from rabbit muscles, and R-enzyme isolated by Hobson, Whelan and Peat219 from potatoes and broad beans, are typical debranching enzymes, which will hydrolyze the 6 — 1-a-D-glucosidic linkage rather than the normal 4 —> 1-a-D linkage. These enzymes will therefore be particularly important in determinations of the fine structure of amylopectin, if they can be sufficiently well purified. 

Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme isolated from viruses that contain a genome that is RNA. This viral enzyme makes DNA using RNA as a template. 

Fructose 1,6-diphosphatase hydrolyzes D-fructose 1,6-diphosphate to give D-fructose 6-phosphate and PO . It is a key enzyme in the gluconeo-genesis pathway. Two divalent metal ions (Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, and Co2+) are involved in catalysis. In the enzyme isolated from pork kidney the metal-metal distance accounts to 3.7 A [12]. A reaction mechanism similar to that of protein phosphatase 1 was proposed, but leaving group stabilization by metal coordination of the ester oxygen atom appears to be absent (Figure 6) [12]. 

Recently, an oxidative biotransformation of secondary amines into nitrones applying cyclohexanone monooxygenase, an enzyme isolated from Acinetobacter... 

H. H. T. Nguyen, S. J. Elliott, J. H. K. Yip, S. I. Chan (1998) The particulate methane monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) is a novel copper-containing three-subunit enzyme - Isolation and characterization. J. Biol. Chem., 273 7957-7966... 

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