Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Production Using Immobilized Glutamate Decarboxylase Followed by Downstream Processing with Cation Exchange Chromatography

• Main Authors: Hongweon Lee, Eun Gyo Lee, Joon-Ki Jung, Yeon-Gu Kim, Jungoh Ahn, Seungwoon Lee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2013-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: gamma aminobutyric acid; glutamate decarboxylase; glutamic acid; immobilization; cation exchange chromatography
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/14/1/1728

We have developed a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) production technique using his-tag mediated immobilization of Escherichia coli-derived glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of glutamate to GABA. The GAD was obtained at 1.43 g/L from GAD-overexpressed E. coli fermentation and consisted of 59.7% monomer, 29.2% dimer and 2.3% tetramer with a 97.6% soluble form of the total GAD. The harvested GAD was immobilized to metal affinity gel with an immobilization yield of 92%. Based on an investigation of specific enzyme activity and reaction characteristics, glutamic acid (GA) was chosen over monosodium glutamate (MSG) as a substrate for immobilized GAD, resulting in conversion of 2.17 M GABA in a 1 L reactor within 100 min. The immobilized enzymes retained 58.1% of their initial activities after ten consecutive uses. By using cation exchange chromatography followed by enzymatic conversion, GABA was separated from the residual substrate and leached GAD. As a consequence, the glutamic acid was mostly removed with no detectable GAD, while 91.2% of GABA was yielded in the purification step.