Specific Enzyme-Catalyzed Hydrolysis and Synthesis in Aqueous and Organic Medium Using Biocatalysts with Lipase Activity from Aspergillus niger MYA 135

Abstract

In the present study, the specific hydrolytic activity of three biocatalysts such as the constitutive mycelium-bound lipase, the induced mycelium-bound lipase and the lyophilized induced supernatant from A. niger MYA 135 was evaluated in both aqueous and organic media. A direct correlation between activity in water and n-hexane was not observed for the same hydrolytic reaction. The n-hexane/water activity ratio (R O/A) was applied to characterize the activity in organic medium. The three biocatalysts showed R O/A values higher than 1 for hydrolysis of long-chain fatty acid esters, demonstrating a higher specific hydrolytic activity in organic solvent than in water. A different behavior was observed during hydrolysis of middle-chain fatty acid esters, which was higher in aqueous medium (R O/A < 1). Transesterifications of different alcohols with various p-nitrophenyl derivatives using all three biocatalysts preparations were also evaluated in n-hexane. For methanolysis and ethanolysis, the constitutive mycelium-bound lipase displayed an interesting preference for C16 substrate (p-nitrophenyl palmitate). The induced mycelium-bound lipase showed high specific transesterification activities in the presence of water-miscible alcohols and middle-chain fatty acid esters (p-nitrophenyl caprate and p-nitrophenyl laurate), being the highest specific transesterification activity (91.4 ± 1.7 mU/gdw) observed in a reaction mixture containing propanol and p-nitrophenyl laurate. Finally, both p-nitrophenyl caprate (C10) and p-nitrophenyl laurate (C12) were preferentially methanolized by the lyophilized induced supernatant, being this lipase activity the most specific biocatalyst preparation under transesterification conditions. A selectivity-based analysis of each lipase preparation toward transesterification or hydrolysis in organic medium was evaluated as well.