Abstract
Thermal stability is a limiting factor for effective application of D-psicose 3-epimerase (DPEase) enzyme. Recently, it was reported that the thermal stability of DPEase was improved by immobilizing enzymes on graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles. However, the detailed mechanism is not known. In this study, we investigated interaction details between GO and DPEase by performing molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results indicated that the domain (K248 to D268) of DPEase was an important anchor for immobilizing DPEase on GO surface. Moreover, the strong interactions between DPEase and GO can prevent loop α1′-α1 and β4-α4 of DPEase from the drastic fluctuation. Since these two loops contained active site residues, the geometry of the active pocket of the enzyme remained stable at high temperature after the DPEase was immobilized by GO, which facilitated efficient catalytic activity of the enzyme. Our research provided a detailed mechanism for the interaction between GO and DPEase at the nano–biology interface.
Highlights
Thermal stability is a limiting factor for effective application of D-psicose 3-epimerase (DPEase) enzyme
To explore the effect of graphene oxide (GO) on the thermal stability of DPEase, four models were constructed in the study
To further investigate the underlying mechanism of GO enhancing the thermal stability of DPEase, we found that the DPEase only simulated at high temperature (60 ◦ C) underwent significant conformational changes, especially in the loop α10 -α1, loop β4-α4, and α80, compared to that performed at 50 ◦ C
Summary
Thermal stability is a limiting factor for effective application of D-psicose 3-epimerase (DPEase) enzyme. It was reported that the thermal stability of DPEase was improved by immobilizing enzymes on graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles. High temperatures may result in structural denaturation of enzymes, leading to loss of catalytic performance of biological catalysts [4] To address these difficulties, enzyme immobilization technology has been developed to improve thermal stability of enzymes in the wake of the development of nanoparticles [3,5]. Graphene oxide (GO) is a kind of nanomaterial that has attracted extensive attention in recent years [14,15,16,17] It is a unique two-dimensional carbon network structure, which has some special properties, such as large surface area [18], extraordinary mechanic stability [19], and good biologic compatibility [20]. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
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