Aspergillus oryzae alpha-amylase partition in potassium phosphate-polyethylene glycol aqueous two-phase systems

The aim of this work is to study the partitioning of alpha-amylase from Aspergillus oryzae in polyethylene glycol-potassium phosphate systems formed by polymers of different molecular masses with different total concentrations, several NaCl concentrations and different volume ratio between the phases and at different temperatures. The enzyme was partitioned towards the top phase in the 2000-molecular-mass polyethylene glycol systems and towards the bottom phase in the other systems analyzed with higher molecular mass. The protein-medium interaction parameter (A) was determined; it increased in the same way as PEG molecular mass. The enthalpic and entropic changes found, in general, were negative and were shown to be associated by an entropic-enthalpic compensation effect suggesting that the ordered water structure in the chain of polyetyleneglycol plays a role in protein partition. The recovery in each of the phases was calculated in order to choose the best systems to be applied to enzyme isolation either from a polymer-rich or a polymer-poor phase. Enzymatic activity, circular dichroism and fluorescence were studied for the protein alone and in the presence of the different phases of the aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) in order to understand how they affect the enzymatic structure and the role of the protein-polymer interaction in the partitioning process. Secondary structure is not affected, in general, by the presence of the phases that do affect the enzymatic activity; therefore, there should be a change in the tertiary structure in the enzyme active site. These changes are more important for PEG 8000 than for PEG 2000 systems according to the results of the quenching of the intrinsic fluorescence. In a bio-separation process, the A. oryzae alpha-amylase could be isolated with ATPSs PEG 2000/Pi or PEG 8000/Pi with a high recovery, in the top or bottom phases, respectively.