Amplicilin biosynthesis by immobilized enzyme

Ampliciline was synthesized from 6-amino-pencillanic acid (6-APA) and D-.alpha. phenylglycine methyl ester by using amplicilin synthesizing enzyme from Peudomonas melanogenum (IAM 1655). The whole cell enzyme was immobilized by entrapping it in the polyacrylamide gel lattices. The polymer used in the enzyme entrapment was made from 150 mg per ml of acrylamide monomer and 8 mg per ml of N, N'-methylenebisacrylamide. About 200 mg/whole cell enzyme was mixed in the polymer for entrapment. The maximal activity retention after immobilization was 56%. The optimal pH values for the whole cell enzyme and the immobilized whole cell enzyme were 6.0 and 5.9, respectively. The optimal temperature for the enzyme activity were the same for both type of preparations. The enzyme stabilities against pH and heat increased for immobilized whole cell enzyme. Immobilized cell was more stable especially in the acidic condition while both type were found to be very suceptible to thermal inactivation at a temperature above 4.deg.C. The kinetic constants obtained from Lineweaver-Burk plot based on two substate reaction mechanism showed somewhat higher value for immobilized whole cell enzyme as compared to the whole cell enzyme : the Km value for 6-APA were 7.0 mM and 12.5 mM while Km values for phenylglycine methyl ester were 4.5 mM and 8.2 mM, respectively. Using the immobilized whole cell enzyme packed in a column reactor, the productivity of ampiciline was studied by varying the flow rate of substrate solution. At the space velocity, SV, 0.14 hr$^{-1}$ the conversion was 45%. Operational stability found in terms of half life was 30 hr at SV = 0.2 hr.