Amperometric Biosensors Based on Direct Electron Transfer Enzymes

The accurate determination of analyte concentrations with selective, fast, and robust methods is the key for process control, product analysis, environmental compliance, and medical applications. Enzyme-based biosensors meet these requirements to a high degree and can be operated with simple, cost efficient, and easy to use devices. This review focuses on enzymes capable of direct electron transfer (DET) to electrodes and also the electrode materials which can enable or enhance the DET type bioelectrocatalysis. It presents amperometric biosensors for the quantification of important medical, technical, and environmental analytes and it carves out the requirements for enzymes and electrode materials in DET-based third generation biosensors. This review critically surveys enzymes and biosensors for which DET has been reported. Single- or multi-cofactor enzymes featuring copper centers, hemes, FAD, FMN, or PQQ as prosthetic groups as well as fusion enzymes are presented. Nanomaterials, nanostructured electrodes, chemical surface modifications, and protein immobilization strategies are reviewed for their ability to support direct electrochemistry of enzymes. The combination of both biosensor elements—enzymes and electrodes—is evaluated by comparison of substrate specificity, current density, sensitivity, and the range of detection.

Cloning and Expression of Levansucrase Gene of Bacillus velezensis BM-2 and Enzymatic Synthesis of Levan

Levan is a versatile and valuable fructose homopolymer, and a few bacterial strains have been found to produce levan. Although levan products have numerous specific functions, their application and promotion were limited by the production capacity and production cost. Bacillus velezensis BM-2 is a levan-synthesizing strain, but its levan production is too low to apply. In this study, the levansucrase gene of B. velezensis BM-2 was cloned to plasmid pET-32a-Acma-zz, and the recombinant plasmids were transferred to Escherichia coli BL21. A transformed clone was selected to express and secrete the fusion enzymes with an Acma-tag efficiently. The expressed products were further purified by a self-developed separating material called bacterial enhancer matrix (BEM) particles. The purification efficiency was 93.4%, with a specific activity of 16.589 U/mL protein. The enzymatic reaction results indicated that the optimal reaction temperature is 50 °C, the optimal pH of the acetate buffer is 5.6, and the buffer system greatly influenced the enzyme activity. The enzyme activity was enhanced to 130% in the presence of 5 mM Ca2+, K+, Zn2+, and Mn2+, whereas it was almost abolished in the case of Cu2+ and Fe3+. The values of Km, kcat, and kcat/Km were 17.41 mM, 376.83 s−1, and 21.64 mM−1s−1, respectively. The enzyme amount of 20 U/g sucrose was added to the system containing 400 g/L sucrose, and the levan products with a concentration of 120 g/L reached after an incubation of 18 h, which was 8 times that of the yield before optimization. The results of molecular docking analysis indicated that the Asp86 might act as a nucleophilic catalytic residue for sucrose, Arg246 and Asp247 act as transition state stabilizer of transfructosylation, and Glu340 and Arg306 were recognized as general acid donors. They formed the catalytic-groups triad. The unique properties and catalytic activity of the levansucrase suggest that it deserves further research and might have good industrial application prospects.

Improved lignocellulose degradation efficiency by fusion of β-glucosidase, exoglucanase, and carbohydrate-binding module from Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus

Bifunctional cellulases with β-glucosidase (Bgl1), exoglucanase (Exo5), and carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) from Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus were fused to yield several recombinant plasmids, Bgl1-CBM-Exo5, Bgl1-2CBM-Exo5, and Bgl1-3CBM-Exo5. The fused enzymes possessed both β-glucosidase and exoglucanase activities and were used to improve the degradation efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass. The optimal temperature of Bgl1-3CBM-Exo5 was 70 °C, which was the same as Bgl1, and the optimal temperature of the other two enzymes was 80 °C, which was the same as Exo5. The optimal pH of fused enzymes was 4 to 5, the same as Exo5, but the optimal pH of Bgl1 was 5.5. Compared with Bgl1-CBM-Exo5 and Bgl1-2CBM-Exo5, the hydrolysis efficiency of Bgl1-3CBM-Exo5 on sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) was increased by 67% and 50%, respectively. The activities of these enzymes on CMC-Na were increased by 128 to 192% when 10 mM MnCl2 was added. Filter paper, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), steam-pretreated rice straw, rice straw, and wheat straw were efficiently degraded by these fused enzymes. Specific activities of the fusion enzymes on MCC reached 34.4 to 76.4 U/μmol. The results indicated that bifunctional cellulases fused with CBMs were functional on cellulosic biomass, and CBMs contributed to further deconstruction of MCC and other natural substrates.

Closing the gap for efficient immobilization of biocatalysts in continuous processes: HaloTag™ fusion enzymes for a continuous enzymatic cascade towards a vicinal chiral diol

Compartmentalization of biocatalysts is an effective tool to integrate biocatalytic steps in continuous (chemo)enzymatic cascades.

EditR: A novel base editing quantification software using Sanger sequencing

ABSTRACTCRISPR/Cas9-Cytidine deaminase fusion enzymes - termed Base Editors – allow targeted editing of genomic deoxcytidine to deoxthymidine (C→T) without the need for double stranded break induction. Base editors represent a paradigm-shift in gene editing technology, due to their unprecedented efficiency to mediate targeted, single-base conversion; however, current analysis of base editing outcomes rely on methods that are either imprecise or expensive and time consuming. To overcome these limitations, we developed a simple, cost effective, and accurate program to measure base editing efficiency from fluorescence-based Sanger sequencing, termed EditR. We provide EditR as a free online tool or downloadable desktop application requiring a single Sanger sequencing file and guide RNA sequence (baseeditr.com). EditR is more accurate than enzymatic assays, and provides added insight to the position, type and efficiency of base editing. Collectively, we demonstrate that EditR is a robust, inexpensive tool that will facilitate the broad application of base editing technology, thereby fostering further innovation in this burgeoning field.