IMMOBILIZED ENZYMES

AND
THEIR APPLICATIONS
Swathin S Naik
Ist MSc Ist Semester
Postgraduate Department of Biotechnology
Alvas College, Moodabidri
 Contents
1. Introduction.
2. Definition.
3. Purpose and Advantages of Immobilization.
4. Methods of Immobilization.
5. Properties of Carrier for Immobilization.
6. Properties of Immobilized Enzymes.
7. Applications of Immobilized Enzymes.
8. Summary.
9. References.
 Introduction

• Enzymes are normally tightly packed in cellular

organelles or in enzyme cascades.

• This enables catalytic process to take place

precisely when and where they are needed.

• Artificial application of such compartmentation

or packing go back to 1950s.
 Introdution continued……

• Since 1950s numerous efforts have been devoted to

development of soluble immobilized enzymes for
various applications.

• Immobilized enzymes were first prepared

intentionally by inclusion in polymeric matrix or
binding onto carrier molecules.

• For Cross-linking of enzymes, either by protein cross-

linking or by addition of inert materials, considerable
effort was put.
 Definition
“An Immobilized enzyme is one, whose movement in
space has been restricted; either completely or to
small limited region by attachment to a solid
structure.”

OR

“An Immobilized enzyme is one, which has been

attached to or enclosed by an insoluble support
medium or one where the enzyme molecules have
been cross-linked to each other, without loss of
catalytic activity.”
 Purpose and Advantages of
Immobilization of Enzymes
• Immobilization is natural phenomenon existing in
environment.

• Microorganisms in nature are distributed and often

exits in biofilms

• This natural phenomenon encouraged humans to

utilize for his benefit.

• Immobilized Enzymes have several advantages over

soluble enzymes.
Biofilm
 Purpose and Advantages of
Immobilization of Enzymes continued……
• The Immobilized Enzymes can be easily removed from reaction
making it easy to reuse it in the reaction

• Since Immobilized enzymes can be removed from reaction

mixture. The reaction mixture (solvent and Reaction product) does
not get contaminated; thus lowering the cost thus making
reaction product more economical.

• Immobilized Enzyme have Greater thermal and operational

stability.

• Ability to stop the reaction by removing the enzyme from reaction

solution.
 Method of Enzyme immobilization
• Adsorption
– First among the immobilization methods.
– Immobilization by adsorption is the simplest method and
involves reversible surface interactions between enzyme
and support material
– Procedure consists of
• mixing together the biological components and a
support, under suitable conditions of pH and ionic
strength,
• for a period of incubation,
• followed by collection of the immobilized material and
• extensive washing to remove the unbound biological
components.
Adsorption based Enzyme
Immobilization
• Advantages of enzymes immobilized using the
adsorption technique:
– Reversibility: which enables not only the
purification of proteins but also the reuse of the
carriers.
– Simplicity: which enables enzyme immobilization
under mild conditions.
– Possible high retention of activity because there is
no chemical modification.
– Cheap and quick method
– No chemical changes to the support or enzyme
occurs.
• Disadvantages of enzymes immobilized using
the adsorption technique

– Enzymes tend to leak from the carriers, due

to the relatively weak interaction between
the enzyme and the carrier, which can be
destroyed by desorption forces such as high
ionic strength, pH, etc,
–Contamination of product.
–Non-specific binding.
–Overloading on the support.
–Steric hindrance by the support.
• Covalent Binding

– involves formation of a covalent bond between

the enzyme and support material.
– provide the strongest linkages between enzyme
and carrier.
– leakage of enzyme from the carrier used is often
minimized.
– bond is normally formed between functional
groups present on the surface of the support and
functional groups belonging to amino acid
residues on the surface of the enzyme.
Enzyme immobilization by covalent
binding
• Advantages of enzymes immobilized
using the covalent technique

– No leakage of enzyme.
– The enzyme can be easily in contact to substrate due to
the localization of enzyme on support materials.
– Increase of the thermal stability.

• Disadvantages of enzymes immobilized using the

covalent technique
– The cost is quite high as the good supports are very
expensive.
– Loss of enzyme activity.
• Entrapment
– Entrapment differs from adsorption and covalent binding in
that enzyme molecules are free in solution, but restricted
in movement by the lattice structure of a gel.
– The porosity of gel lattice is controlled to ensure that the
structure is tight enough to prevent leakage of enzyme or
cells, yet at the same time allows free movement of
substrate and product.
– support also acts as a barrier and can be advantageous as
it protects the immobilized enzyme from microbial
contamination by harmful cells, proteins, and enzymes in
the microenvironment.
– Entrapment can be achieved by mixing an enzyme with a
polyionic polymer material, such as carrageenan, and by
cross-linking the polymer with multivalent cations.
Enzyme immobilization by
Entrapment
• Advantages of enzymes immobilized
using the entrapment technique
–Enzyme loading is very high.

• Disadvantages of enzymes
immobilized using the entrapment
technique
–Enzyme leakage from the support.
–Diffusion of the substrate to the enzyme
and of the product away from the
enzyme.
• Encapsulation

– Encapsulation of enzymes can be achieved by

enveloping the biological components within various
forms of semi-permeable membranes.
– similar to entrapment in that the enzyme is free in
solution, but restricted in space.
– Large proteins or enzymes can not pass out or into the
capsule, but small substrates and products can pass
freely across the semi-permeable membrane.
– Many materials have been used to construct
microcapsules varying from 10-100µm in diameter.
Enzyme immobilization by
Encapsulation
• Advantages of enzymes immobilized using the
en-capsulation technique:
– The enzymes could be encapsulated inside the cell.

– Possibility of co-immobilization. Where cells and/or

enzymes may be immobilized in any desired combination
to suit particular applications.

• Disadvantages of enzymes immobilized using

the entrapment technique:
– The problems associated with diffusion are acute and may
result in rupture of the membrane if products from a
reaction accumulate rapidly.
• Crosslinking

– This type of immobilization is support-free as and involves

joining enzyme molecules to each other to form a large,
three-dimensional complex structure.
– Chemical methods of cross-linking normally involve covalent
bond formation between the enzymes by means of a bi- or
multifunctional reagent, such as glutaraldehyde, dicarboxylic
acid or toluene di-isocyanate.
– Flocculating agents, such as polyamines, polyethyleneimine,
polystyrene sulfonates, and various phosphates, have been
used extensively to cross-link cells using physical bonds.
– Crosslinking is rarely used as the only means of
immobilization, because poor mechanical properties of the
aggregates are severe limitations
– Crosslinking is most often used to enhance the other
methods of immobilization.
Enzyme immobilization by Cross
linking
• Advantages of enzymes immobilized
using the crosslinking technique
– The immobilization is support-free.
– Cross-linking between the same enzyme
molecules stabilises the enzymes by increasing
the rigidity of the structure

• Disdvantages of enzymes immobilized using

the crosslinking technique
– Harshness of reagents of cross-linking is a limiting
factor.
– The enzyme may partially lose activity or
become totally inactivated in case the cross-
linking reagent reacted across the active site.
 Properties of Carrier for
Immobilization
• Availability from a reliable commercial
sources.
• Abundance of easily available functional
group.
• Good mechanical and chemical stability.
• Carrier material has good capacity for the
enzyme.
• Carrier material should be user friendly.
 Properties of Immobilized Enzymes
• The properties of an immobilized enzymes may be
different from those of the enzyme in free solution.
• Depends on method of immobilization and nature
of carrier.
• Reduction in specific activity may occur.
Denaturation may take place if chemical process is
involved.
• The new micro-environment could influence the
enzyme in various ways
– like the characteristic of enzyme might be altered if active
site undergo conformational changes due to the chemical
or physical interaction between enzyme and carrier.
 Properties of Immobilized Enzymes
continued…..

• Stability of enzymes on heating and storing may

increase or decrease or remain same depending
on how the new micro-environment affects its
tendency to denature.

• pH optimum can change by as much as by 2 pH

units owing to effect of new micro-environment.

• The apparent Km may be effected similarly by the

electrostatic field of the carrier and diffusion
factors.
 Applications of Immobilized
Enzymes
• Biomedical Application
– Used for diagnostic treatment of diseases.

– The inborn metabolic deficiency can be

overcome by encapsulated enzymes instead of
waste metabolites.

– Enzyme encapsulation through electroporation

in the biomedical field and its is reversible and
enzyme can be regenerated.
 Applications of Immobilized
Enzymes continued……
– Examples of potential medical use of
immobilized enzymes.
• Asperginase for Leukemia.
• Urate oxidase for Hyperglacemia.
• Urease for artificial kidney, uraemic disorder.
• Glucose oxidase for artificial lungs.
• Carbomate hydratase and catalase for artificial lungs
• Glucomylase for glycose storage disease.
• Xanthine oxidase for Lysch-Nyhan disease.
• Phenylalanine ammonia lyase for phenylketouria.
 Applications of Immobilized Enzymes
continued……

• Food Industry
– In food industry, the purified enzymes are used but during the
purification, the enzymes will denature.

– immobilization technique makes the enzymes stable.

– The immobilized enzymes are used for the production of

syrups.

– Immobilized beta-galactosidase used for lactose hydrolysis in

whey for the production of bakers yeast.

– The enzyme galactosidase was linked to resin (food grade)

through cross linking. This method was used for the various
purposes such as confectionaries and icecreams.
Applications of Immobilized Enzymes
in Food Industry
 Applications of Immobilized Enzymes
continued……

• Biodiesel Production
– Biodiesel is produced through triglycerides with
esterification of alcohol in the presence of the
catalyst.

– The production of catalyst is a drawback of high

energy requirements, recovery of glycerol and side
reaction which may affect the pollution.

– Biological production of Biodiesel with lipases

nowadays has a great consideration.
Applications of Immobilized Enzymes
continued……

• Biodiesel Production continued……

–Lipase catalyses the reaction with less energy
requirements and mild conditions required.

–Production of lipase is of high cost, hence the

immobilization of lipase which results in
repeated use and stability.

–In the biological production of biodiesel the

methanol inactivates the lipase, hence the
immobilization method is an advantage for the
biodiesel production.
 Applications of Immobilized Enzymes
continued……

• Textile Industry
– The enzymes derived from microbial origin are of
great interest in textile industry.

– Textile industries now turned to enzyme process

instead of using harsh chemical which affects the
pollution and cause damage to the fabrics.

– The enzymes such as cellulase, amylase, liccase,

pectinase, cutinase and are used for various textile
applications such ascouring, biopolishing, desizing,
denim finishing, treating wool.
Applications of Immobilized Enzymes
in textile industry
 Applications of Immobilized Enzymes
continued……

• Textile Industry continued……

– Among these enzymes cellulase has been widely
used.

– The processing of fabrics with enzymes requires

high temperatures and increased pH, the free
enzymes does not able to withstand the extreme
conditions.

– Immobilized Enzyme able to withstand at

extreme and able to maintains its activity for
more than 5-6 cycles.
 Summary
• Enzymes can be immobilized by binding to an
insoluble carrier, by entrapping in gel or membrane
or by cross-linking.

• Immobilization effect stability, pH optimum,

apparent Km, apparent Vmax of enzyme, depending
on method of immobilization and nature of carrier.

• Immobilized enzymes can be removed from a

reaction mixture; thereby stopping the reaction
and making enzyme available for reuse.
 Summary continued……
• Immobilized enzymes have technological
advances and is useful tool to meet cost targets
by the repeated use of enzymes.

• Immobilized enzymes make laborious separation

steps unnecessary by being easily separated from
reaction mixture.

• Other benefit include stability against harsh

reaction condition.
 References
1. Trevor Palmer, Philip Bonner (2008) Enzymes Biochemistry,
Biotechnology, Clinical Chemistry, 2nd Edition New Delhi: East-
West Press Private Limited.
2. Magdy M Elnshar (2010) Immobilized Molecules using
Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology: Review article, Journal of
Biomaterials and nanotechnology.
3. Dr. Linqic Cao (2005) Carrier bound Immobilized enzymes
principles application and designs, wiley-VCH verlag GmbH and
Co
4. Hemalatha V et. al. (2016) Methods, Applications of Immobilized
enzymes-A Mini Review, International Journal of Engineering
sciences and research technology.
5. Wilhelm Tischer, Volker Kasche (1999) Immobilized Enzymes:
crystals or carriers?: Review Elsevier Science, volume 7