Flow calorimetry--a useful tool for determination of immobilized cis-epoxysuccinate hydrolase activity from Nocardia tartaricans

Bacterial cells Nocardia tartaricans with cis-epoxysuccinate hydrolase activity were entrapped in hardened calcium pectate gel by a commercial high performance encapsulator. This enzyme (in a single step reaction with no formation of side products) was used to hydrolyze disodium cis-epoxysuccinate to a pure enantiomer--disodium L-(+)-tartrate. Activities of this enzyme were determined using flow calorimetry. The validity of this method was corroborated by HPLC and isotachophoresis. The immobilized biocatalyst has activity (75.8 U/mgdry) able to convert disodium cis-epoxysuccinate to disodium tartrate at 94% yield in 5.5h. Immobilization of N. tartaricans in hardened calcium pectate gel beads had a positive effect on the activity of cis-epoxysuccinate hydrolase, storage stability, yield, and time of bioconversion.