Deactivation Kinetics of Nitrile Hydratase in Free Resting Cells

Nitrile hydratase (NHase) is an important industrial enzyme used for acrylamide production from acrylonitrile.The deactivation kinetics of NHases in free resting cells of Rhodococcus sp.was presented based on a bi-steady state assumption.Effects of hydration temperature,product concentration and substrate concentration on NHase deactivation were investigated experimentally and correlated with a first order deactivation kinetics.The results showed that the hydration temperature and product concentration were major factors governing the deactivation of NHases under substrate-feeding conditions.When acrylamide concentration was higher than 250 g·L1,the deactivation of NHases became serious and the bi-steady state assumption was not applicable.When the hydration temperature was controlled at a relatively higher level such as 28°C,the total deactivation rate constant was about 2.8-fold of that at 20°C.

Inducing Expression and Reaction Characteristic of Nitrile Hydratase from Rhodococcus sp. SHZ-1

Inducing expression and the reaction characteristic of nitrile hydratase （NHase） from Rhodococcus sp. SHZ-1 were investigated. The results showed that the expression of NHase was greatly enhanced with the cooperation of acrylonitrile and ammonium chloride as inducer in the medium and the specific activity of NHase was increased of 44%. Then the temperature, pH, concentration of acrylonitrile and acrylamide were evaluated, which affected the activity and reaction characteristic of NHase. It was found that the temperature and concentration of acrylarnide were the most important factors for the catalyzation of NHase. The optimal catalysis temperature of NHase from Rhodococcus sp. SHZ-1 was 30℃, and the activation energy of the hydration of NHase was 90.2kJ·mol^-1 in the temperature range from 5℃ to 30℃. Kmof NHase was 0.095mol·L^-1 using acrylonitrile（AN） as substrate, and NHase activity was inhibited seriously when acrylonitrile concentration was up to 40g·L^-1, the substrate inhibition constant Ki is 0.283mol·L^-1. Moreover, the NHase from Rhodococcus sp. SHZ-1 had very strong tolerance to acrylamide, in which the final concentration of acrylamide reached to 642g·L^-1 and the residual activity of NHase still maintained 8.6% of the initial enzyme activity.

Synthesis of Optically Active β-Alkyl-α-methylene-γ-butyro- lactones from Enantioselective Biotransformation of Nitriles, an Unusual Inversion of Enantioselectivity

A new approach to optically active β-alkyl-α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone derivatives was reported from the Rhodococcus sp. AJ270-catalyzed hydrolysis of appropriate nitriles. The inversion of enantioselectivity of the amidase has been observed when a methyl protection was introduced into the hydroxy group of the parent substrate.

Biocatalytic Synthesis of Highly Enantiopure 1,4-Benzodioxane-2-carboxylic Acid and Amide

Catalyzed by Rhodococcus erythropolis AJ270, a nitrile hydratase and amidase containing microbial whole-cell catalyst, at 10 ℃ and with the use of methanol as a co-solvent, nitrile and amide biotransformations produce 2S-1,4-benzodioxane-2-carboxamide and 2R-1,4-benzodioxane-2-carboxylic acid in high yields with excellent enantioselectivity.