Effects of temperature and pressure on Rhizomucor miehei lipase stability

Both high temperature and high hydrostatic pressure induce irreversible deactivation of enzymes. They enable the enzyme's thermodynamic parameters to be determined and are used to study the mechanisms involved in biochemical systems. The effect of these two factors on the stability of Rhizomucor miehei lipase have been investigated. The stability criterion used was residual hydrolytic activity of the lipase. Experimental and theoretical parameters, obtained by linear regression analysis, were compared with theoretical kinetics in order to validate the series-type inactivation model. The lipase of R. miehei was deactivated by either thermal or pressure treatment. Moreover conformational studies made by fluorescence spectroscopy suggest that the conformational changes induced by pressure were different from those induced by temperature. In addition they show that after thermal deactivation there were less intermolecular hydrogen bonded structures formed than was the case for deactivation by high pressure.