Metaproteomic Discovery and Characterization of a Novel Lipolytic Enzyme From an Indian Hot Spring

Lipolytic enzymes are produced by animals, plants and microorganisms. With their chemo-, regio-, and enantio-specific characteristics, lipolytic enzymes are important biocatalysts useful in several industrial applications. They are widely used in the processing of fats and oils, detergents, food processing, paper and cosmetics production. In this work, we used a new functional metaproteomics approach to screen sediment samples of the Indian Bakreshwar hot spring for novel thermo- and solvent-stable lipolytic enzymes. We were able to identify an enzyme showing favorable characteristics. DS-007 showed high hydrolytic activity with substrates with shorter chain length (<C8) with the maximum activity observed against p-nitrophenyl butyrate (C4). For substrates with a chain length >C10, significantly less hydrolytic activity was observed. A preference for short chain acyl groups is characteristic for esterases, suggesting that DS-007 is an esterase. Consistent with the high temperature at its site of isolation, DS-007 showed a temperature optimum at 55°C and retained 80% activity even after prolonged exposure to temperatures as high as 60°C. The enzyme showed optimum activity at pH 9.5, with more than 50% of its optimum activity between pH 8.0 and pH 9.5. DS-007 also exhibited tolerance toward organic solvents at a concentration of 1% (v/v). One percent of methanol increased the activity of DS-007 by 40% in comparison to the optimum conditions without solvent. In the presence of 10% methanol, DMSO or isopropanol DS-007 still showed around 50% activity. This data indicates that DS-007 is a temperature- and solvent-stable thermophilic enzyme with reasonable activity even at lower temperatures as well as a catalyst that can be used at a broad range of pH values with an optimum in the alkaline range, showing the adaptation to the habitat’s temperature and alkaline pH.

Fascinating Interlocked Triacontanuclear Giant Nanocages

We report herein three air and solvent stable interlocked triacontanuclear giant nanocages, generated using a node and spacer concept.Interestingly, not only the crystal structures of cages are nano-dimensional but also...

Mass Transport Models in Organic Solvent Nanofiltration: A Review

Membrane technology has been gradually used as an alternative to the conventional separation and purification method in various industries. In recent years, solvent-stable nanofiltration or organic solvent nanofiltration has becoming practicable through the development of solvent-stable commercial polymeric membranes. Organic solvent nanofiltration has a great potential to replace the conventional energy-demanding process such as distillation due to its ability of separating organic solvents and solutes on a molecular level without phase change and operation at relatively mild temperature. Predicting the performance of such membrane separations is crucial in the process design. Important performance indicator such as the permeate flux and the rejections are strongly related to the fluid dynamics, mass transfer and solute-solvent-membrane interactions. The aim of this paper is to review and assess the transport models of solute and solvent transport relevant to organic solvent nanofiltration. The link between concentration polarization and the hydrodynamics in various configurations are discussed. The effects of process variables on membrane performance and solute-solvent membrane interactions are also reviewed.