Characterization and Application of a Robust Glucose Dehydrogenase from Paenibacillus pini for Cofactor Regeneration in Biocatalysis

Glucose dehydrogenases are important auxiliary enzymes in biocatalysis, employed in the regeneration of reduced nicotinamide cofactors for oxidoreductase catalysed reactions. Here we report the identification and characterization of a novel glucose-1-dehydrogenase (GDH) from Paenibacillus pini that prefers NAD+ as cofactor over NADP+. The purified recombinant P. pini GDH displayed a specific activity of 247.5 U/mg. The enzyme was stable in the pH range 4–8.5 and exhibited excellent thermostability till 50 °C for 24 h, even in the absence of NaCl or glycerol. Paenibacillus pini GDH was also tolerant to organic solvents, demonstrating its potential for recycling cofactors for biotransformation. The potential application of the enzyme was evaluated by coupling with a NAD+-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase for the reduction of acetophenone and ethyl-4-chloro-3-oxo-butanoate. Conversions higher than 95% were achieved within 2 h with low enzyme loading using lyophilized cell lysate, suggesting that P. pini GDH could be highly effective for recycling NADH in redox biocatalysis.