Our previously presented method for high throughput computational screening of mutant activity (Hediger et al., 2012) is benchmarked against experimentally measured amidase activity for 22 mutants of Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB). Using an appropriate cutoff criterion for the computed barriers, the qualitative activity of 15 out of 22 mutants is correctly predicted. The method identifies f...

Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB), resembling many other lipases structure-wise, contains a flexible lid that undergoes a surprisingly large conformational change when catalyzing hydrophobic substrates (e.g. triglycerides). Despite extensive and important applications in industry, it is so far still elusive whether CalB can be activated on a hydrophobic surface, like other lipases. From large-...

Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) is an important catalyst in bio-organic synthesis. To optimize its performance, either the reaction medium is changed or the lipase itself is modified. In the latter case, mutants are generated in Eschericha coli and subsequently expressed in fungal hosts for their characterization. Here we present the functional expression of CalB in the periplasm of E. coli....

Multifunctional enzymes have alternative functions or activities, known as “moonlighting” or “promiscuous”, which are often hidden behind a native enzyme activity and therefore only visible under special environmental conditions. In this thesis, the active-site of Pseudozyma (formerly Candida) antarctica lipase B was explored for a promiscuous conjugate addition activity. Pseudozyma antarctica ...

Lipases from Geotrichum candidum 4013 (extracellular lipase and cell-bound lipase) were immobilized by adsorption on chitosan beads. The enzyme preparations were tested in the synthesis of ester prodrugs from racemic 9-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)adenine in dimethylformamide with different vinyl esters (acetate, butyrate, decanoate, laurate, palmitate). The transesterification activities of these immo...

The enzymatic regioselective monopalmitoylation of racemic 9-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)- adenine (DHPA), an approved antiviral agent, has been performed by an immobilized form of Candida antarctica B lipase (CAL-B) using a 4:1 DMF/hexane mixture as the reaction medium. To improve the chemical yield of the desired monopalmitoylation reaction, solid-phase chemical modifications of the lipase were eval...

BACKGROUND Lipases constitute a family of enzymes that hydrolyze triglycerides. They occur in many organisms and display a wide variety of substrate specificities. In recent years, much progress has been made towards explaining the mechanism of these enzymes and their ability to hydrolyze their substrates at an oil-water interface. RESULTS We have determined the DNA and amino acid sequences f...

Enzyme selectivity towards a particular enantiomeric configuration of substrate is necessarily governed by chemical and spatial relationships between the substrate and the enzyme binding cavity. In the case of Candida antarctica lipase B experimental evidence shows that enantioselectivity of the enzyme towards the alcohol moiety 3-methyl-2-butanol varies significantly with respect to the chain ...

The enzymatic kinetic resolution of tert-butyl 2-(1-hydroxyethyl) phenylcarbamate via lipase-catalyzed transesterification reaction was studied. We investigated several reaction conditions and the carbamate was resolved by Candida antarctica lipase B (CAL-B), leading to the optically pure (R)- and (S)-enantiomers. The enzymatic process showed excellent enantioselectivity (E > 200). (R)- and (S)...

This thesis describes the use of rational redesign to modify the properties of the enzyme Candida antarctica lipase B. Through carefully selected single-point mutations, we were able to introduce substrate-assisted catalysis and to alter the reaction specificity. Other single-point mutations afforded variants with greatly changed substrate selectivity and enantioselectivity. Mutation of the cat...