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  • Title: Reverse micelles in organic solvents: a medium for the biotechnological use of extreme halophilic enzymes at low salt concentration.
    Author: Marhuenda-Egea FC, Piera-Velázquez S, Cadenas C, Cadenas E.
    Journal: Archaea; 2002 Sep; 1(2):105-11. PubMed ID: 15803648.
    Abstract:
    Alkaline p-nitrophenylphosphate phosphatase (pNPPase) from the halophilic archaeobacterium Halobacterium salinarum (previously halobium) was solubilized at low salt concentration in reverse micelles of hexadecyltrimethyl-ammoniumbromide in cyclohexane with 1-butanol as co-surfactant. The enzyme maintained its catalytic properties under these conditions. The thermodynamic "solvation-stabilization hypothesis" has been used to explain the bell-shaped dependence of pNPPase activity on the water content of reverse micelles, in terms of protein-solvent interactions. According to this model, the stability of the folded protein depends on a network of hydrated ions associated with acidic residues at the protein surface. At low salt concentration and low water content (the ratio of water concentration to surfactant concentration; w0), the network of hydrated ions within the reverse micelles may involve the cationic heads of the surfactant. The bell-shaped profile of the relationship between enzyme activity and w0 varied depending on the concentrations of NaCl and Mn2+.
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