Non-covalent binding tags for batch and flow biocatalysis

Enzyme immobilization offers considerable advantage for biocatalysis in batch and continuous flow reactions. However, many currently available immobilization methods require that the surface of the carrier is chemically modified to allow site specific interactions with their cognate enzymes, which requires specific processing steps and incurs associated costs. Two carriers (cellulose and silica) were investigated here, initially using fluorescent proteins as models to study binding, followed by assessment of industrially relevant enzyme performance (transaminases and an imine reductase/glucose oxidoreductase fusion). Two previously described binding tags, the 17 amino acid long silica-binding peptide from the Bacillus cereus CotB protein and the cellulose binding domain from the Clostridium thermocellum, were fused to a range of proteins without impairing their heterologous expression. When fused to a fluorescent protein both tags conferred high avidity specific binding with their respective carriers (low nanomolar Kd values). The CotB peptide (CotB1p) induced protein aggregation in the transaminase and imine reductase/glucose oxidoreductase fusions when incubated with the silica carrier. The Clostridium thermocellum cellulose binding domain (CBDclos) allowed immobilization of all the proteins tested, but immobilization led to loss of enzymatic activity in the transaminases (< 2-fold) and imine reductase/glucose oxidoreductase fusion (> 80%). A transaminase-CBDclos fusion was then successfully used to demonstrate the application of the binding tag in repetitive batch and a continuous-flow reactor.