Purification and characterization of a hydroxynitrile lyase from Amygdalus pedunculata Pall

Hydroxynitrile lyases (HNLs) are widely used in the asymmetric synthesis of cyanohydrins which are organic compounds used in the production of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, because these enzymes exhibit high catalytic efficiency and are very economical. In the present study, seeds of A. pedunculata Pall were identified as new potential source of HNLs. The HNL from A. pedunculata Pall (APHNL) was purified 138 fold and 4.20% yield with a specific activity of 661 U/mg. SDS-PAGE result showed the enzyme to be present as a monomer and the relative molecular mass determined by MALDI-TOF MS was 61 kDa. APHNL owned highest activity at pH 6.0 and at 60 °C temperature, showing activity up to 80 °C and stable up to 60 °C. APHNL has a Km of 0.5 mM, Vmax of 665.9 μmol mg^-1 min^-1, Kcat of 676.5 s^-1 and Kcat/Km of 1353 s^-1 mM^-1 using mandelonitrile as substrate. Syntheses of (R)-mandelonitrile and (R)-2-Hydroxy-2-(3-phenoxy-phenyl)-acetonitrile were carried out using APHNL and molar conversion of (R)-mandelonitrile and (R)-2-Hydroxy-2-(3-phenoxy-phenyl)-acetonitrile were 90% and 98% with 94% and 93% ee, respectively. These results indicated that APHNL was an excellent biocatalyst and has very high potential for synthesis of enantiopure cyanohydrins.