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Updated: Mar 2, 2026

Expression, Purification, Crystallization, and Enzyme Assays of Fumarylacetoacetate Hydrolase Domain-Containing Proteins
Published on: June 20, 2019
Enhancing H2O2 resistance of an esterase from Pyrobaculum calidifontis by structure-guided engineering of the
Pengfei Zhou1, Dongming Lan2, Grzegorz Maria Popowicz3
1School of Bioscience and Bioengineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Green technologies are attracting increasing attention in industrial chemistry where enzymatic reactions can replace dangerous and environmentally unfriendly chemical processes. In situ enzymatic synthesis of peroxycarboxylic acid is an attractive alternative for several industrial applications although concentrated H2O2 can denature the biocatalyst, limiting its usefulness. Herein, we report the structure-guided engineering of the Pyrobaculum calidifontis esterase (PestE) substrate binding site to increase its stability and perhydrolysis activity. The L89R/L40A PestE mutant showed better tolerance toward concentrated H2O2 compared with wild-type PestE, and retained over 72% of its initial activity after 24-h incubation with 2 M H2O2. Surprisingly, the half-life (t 1/2, 80 °C) of PestE increased from 28 to 54 h. The k cat/K m values of the mutant increased 21- and 3.4-fold toward pentanoic acid and H2O2, respectively. This work shows how protein engineering can be used to enhance the H2O2 resistance and catalytic efficiency of an enzyme.
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