Special recognition to Francisco J. Plou

During the Congress on "Enzymes in the Food Industry" (ENZAL 2019, Santiago de Chile, January 10-11 2019), Francisco J. Plou received a special recognition for his contribution to biocatalysis. Prof. Andrés Illanes, from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV, Chile) and Prof. Agustín López-Munguía, from the Institute of Biotechnology at UNAM (Mexico) also received this distinction.

The ABG, present in a Congress and a Practical Workshop on "Enzymes in the Food Industry" (ENZAL 2019, Santiago de Chile)

Our group has participated in a Practical Workshop and a Congress on "Enzymes in the Food Industry" (ENZAL 2019) held in Santiago de Chile, from January 8th to 11th 2019. Francisco Plou supervised a practical class on elimination of lactose with enzymes. Furthermore, he delivered a conference on "Enzymatic synthesis of bioactive oligosaccharides: production of chitooligosaccharides".

Master in Design and Manufacture in Pharmaceutical Industry

The ABG group has participated in the Master 2018/2019 in Design and Manufacture in Pharmaceutical Industry organized by the Universidad de Navarra. Francisco Plou delivered a class on "Application of Biocatalysis in Pharmaceutical Processes", focusing in the increasing contribution of enzymes to the production of pharmaceuticals.

UIMP-CSIC Course on Analysis and Characterization of Materials

Our group has collaborated in the first edition of the Universitary Course on Techniques for the Analysis and Characterization of Materials, organized by our institute (ICP-CSIC)  in collaboration with the UIMP and CSIC Foundation. We were in charge of teaching theoretical and practical lessons on High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

One Day Symposium: Research in Carbohydrates

The Applied Biocatalysis Group has participated in the "One Day Symposium: Research in Carbohydrates" organized by the Group of Carbohydrates at the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry. The Symposium took place at the Faculty of Chemistry of University of Sevilla. The title of the conference delivered by Francisco Plou was “Recent examples of the enzymatic synthesis of bioactive oligosaccharides and polyphenol glycosides”

Master of Biotechnology (UAM) 2018

Students from the International Master of Biotechnology at Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) have visited our laboratories to perform a series of experiments related with biocatalysis, including the determination of enzyme activity and immobilization. They have also visited the laboratory of directed evolution of enzymes, whose supervisor is Dr. Miguel Alcalde. Our participation in the teaching of this Official Master started in 2008, and during this ten years we have tried to bring the biocatalysis closer to the students.

Week of Science and Technology 2018 at CSIC

Our group has participated in the Week of Science and Technology 2018 at CSIC. Several hundreds of High School students have visited the Institute of Catalysis to perform different activities related with Catalysis and Biocatalysis. In our laboratory the students have learned basic concepts on biochemistry and enzymology using lactose-free milk.

Article on glucosylation of hesperetin.

The regioselective α -glucosylation of hesperetin was achieved by a transglycosylation reaction catalyzed by cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase) from Thermoanaerobacter sp. using soluble starch as glucosyl donor. By combining mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF) and 2D-NMR analysis, the main monoglucosylated derivative was fully characterized (hesperetin 7-O-α-D-glucopyranoside).
In order to increase the yield of monoglucoside, several reaction parameters were optimized: Nature and percentage of cosolvent, composition of the aqueous phase, glucosyl donor, temperature, and the concentrations of hesperetin and soluble starch. Under the optimal conditions, which included the presence of 30% of bis(2-methoxyethyl) ether as cosolvent, the maximum concentration of monoglucoside was approximately 2 mM, obtained after 24 h of reaction. To our knowledge, this is the first report of direct glucosylation of hesperetin employing free enzymes instead of whole cells.

''Optimization of Regioselective Glucosylation of Hesperetin Catalyzed by Cyclodextrin Glucanotransferase'' J.L. González-Alfonso, N. Míguez, J. D. Padilla, L. Leemans, A. Poveda, J. Jimnez-Barbero, A. O. Ballesteros, G. Sandoval and F. J. Plou. Molecules, 23, 2285, (2018) doi:10.3390/molecules23112285 

Immobilization of the β-fructofuranosidase from Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous published in Catalysts.

The β-fructofuranosidase (Xd-INV) from the basidiomycota yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous (formerly Phaffia rhodozyma) is unique in its ability to synthesize neo- fructooligosaccharides (neo-FOS). In order to facilitate its industrial application, the recombinant enzyme expressed in Pichia pastoris(pXd-INV) was immobilized by entrapment in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels. The encapsulation efficiency exceeded 80%. The PVA lenticular particles of immobilized pXd-INV were stable up to approximately 40 °C. Using 600 g/L sucrose, the immobilized biocatalyst synthesized 18.9% (w/w) FOS (59.1 g/L of neokestose, 30.2 g/L of 1-kestose, 11.6 g/L of neonystose and 12.6 g/L of blastose). The operational stability of PVA-immobilized biocatalyst was assayed in a batch reactor at 30 °C. The enzyme preserved its initial activity during at least 7 cycles of 26 h.

Immobilization of the β-fructofuranosidase from Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous by entrapment in polyvinyl alcohol and its application to neo-fructooligosaccharides production. N. Miguez, M. Gimeno-Perez, D. Fernandez-Polo, F.V. Cervantes, A.O. Ballesteros, M. Fernandez-Lobato, M.H. Ribeiro, F.J Plou.  Catalysts 8(5), 201 (2018). doi:10.3390/catal8050201

Glucosylation of pterostilbene published in Molecules

In this paper was performed the synthesis of a novel α-glucosylated derivative of pterostilbene by a transglycosylation reaction using starch as glucosyl donor, catalyzed by cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase) from Thermoanaerobacter sp.

Due to the formation of several polyglucosylated products with CGTase, the yield of monoglucoside was increased by the treatment with a recombinant amyloglucosidase (STA1) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (var. diastaticus).

The glucosylation of pterostilbene enhanced its solubility in water to approximately 0.1 g/L. The α-glucosylation caused a slight loss of antioxidant activity towards ABTS˙⁺ radicals. Pterostilbene α-D-glucopyranoside was less toxic than pterostilbene for human SH-S5Y5 neurons, MRC5 fibroblasts and HT-29 colon cancer cells, and similar for RAW 264.7 macrophages.

''Enzymatic synthesis of a novel pterostilbene α-glucoside by the combination of cyclodextrin glucanotransferase and amyloglucosidase''. J.L. González-Alfonso, D. Rodrigo-Frutos, E. Belmonte-Reche, P. Peñalver, A. Poveda, J. Jimenez-Barbero, A.O. Ballesteros, Y. Hirose, J. Polaina, J.C. Morales, M. Fernández-Lobato and F. J. Plou. Molecules 25;23(6) (2018). doi:10.3390/molecules23061271 

Our group visited CPhI Worldwide in Madrid

The ABG group visited the pharmaceutical exhibition CPhI Worldwide in Madrid on October 10th 2018. It was an opportunity to connect with pharma professionals and meet companies from around the world.

Glycosylation of hydroxytyrosol published in ChemCatChem

We have investigated the ability of the β-fructofuranosidase pXd-INV from the yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous to glycosylate the olive biophenol hydroxytyrosol (HT). Two fructosylated derivatives (Fru-HT1 and Fru-HT2) were synthesized.MS and 2D-NMR analyses showed that the major product (Fru-HT1) was fructosylated at the primary OH of HT. The structure of the complexes with the substrates and the product analyzed by crystallography led to the understanding of the molecular determinants regulating the enzymatic mechanism. Product-soaked crystals revealed that the minor derivative (Fru-HT2) was fructosylated at the phenolic p-OH group.  One of the studied mutants (N342Q) was notably more specific for the fructosylation at the phenolic OH than the wild-type.

Reference:“Fructosylation of hydroxytyrosol by the β-fructofuranosidase from Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous: Insights into the molecular basis of the enzyme specificity”. N. Míguez, M. Ramírez-Escudero, M. Gimeno-Pérez, A. Poveda, J. Jiménez-Barbero, A. O. Ballesteros, M. Fernández-Lobato, J. Sanz-Aparicio* and F. J. Plou* ChemCatChem, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201801171(2018)

Article on glucosylation of epigallocatechin gallate

In this work, the synthesis of various α-glucosyl derivatives of (‒)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the predominant catechin in green tea, was performed in water at 50 °C by a transglycosylation reaction catalyzed by cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) from Thermoanaerobacter sp. The molecular weight of reaction products was determined by HPLC-MS. Using hydrolyzed potato starch as glucosyl donor, two main monoglucosides were obtained with conversion yields of 58% and 13%, respectively.

“Efficient α-glucosylation of epigallocatechin gallate catalyzed by cyclodextrin glucanotransferase from Thermoanaerobacter sp.”. J.L. Gonzalez-Alfonso, L. Leemans, A. Poveda, J. Jimenez-Barbero, A.O. Ballesteros and F.J. Plou. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 66, 7402–7408 (2018), doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.8b02143

II Spanish Meeting on Biocatalysis (JEB 2018)

 The Group has participated actively in the II Spanish Meeting on Biocatalysis (JEB 2018) held in Oviedo (25-26 June 2018). We have contributed in the Scientific Committee, and with an oral presentation by Jose-Luis González, a flash presentation by Fadia Cervantes, and two posters by Noa Míguez and David Fernandez. One of the sessions of the meeting was devoted to Prof. Antonio Ballesteros, pioneer in the development of Biocatalyst in Spain.

The ABG group in the Science World Exhibition

Our group visited the Science World Exhibition held in Madrid on May 24th 2018. The event showed the latest in iaboratory innovations and laboratory practice and safety.

Publication of a post in the blog "Science to take away"

Francisco J. Plou has published a post describing the application of enzymes in detergents in the CSIC blog "Science to take away". The aim of this blog is to promote the scientific divulgation with the collaboration of the popular newspaper "20 minutos".

https://blogs.20minutos.es/ciencia-para-llevar-csic/2018/03/01/manchas-dificiles-la-solucion-esta-en-las-enzimas/

 https://twitter.com/CSICdivulga/status/969138157391314944

Visit of the Account Manager of Novozymes Spain

Ramiro Martínez, Account Manager of Novozymes Spain, visited the Applied Biocatalysis Group. It was a good opportunity to share the latest developments and applications of industrial enzymes, and to continue the fruitful collaboration of our group with Novozymes. 

Special Issue “Biocatalysis in Spain"

Francisco Plou is one of the Editors of the  Special Issue “Biocatalysis in Spain:A field of success and innovation” published by the journal Biocatalysis and Biotransformation (Taylor & Francis), which covers the work of several Spanish groups in the field of biocatalysis. Thus, both research articles and reviews allow one to draw an accurate view of the state-of-the-art development of this subject in Spain.

Paloma Santos-Moriano defends her Thesis

Paloma Santos-Moriano defended her Thesis by the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) entitled "Biocatalytic processes for the production of bioactive carbohydrates: fructooligosaccharides and chitooligosaccharides", supervised by Dr. Francisco J. Plou. She obtained the maximum qualification (Sobresaliente cum laude). The jury was formed by Dr. Jose L. Copa-Patiño (University of Alcala), Dr. Javier Moreno (CIAL, UAM-CSIC), Dr. Beatriz Gullon (University of Santiago de Compostela), Dr. Pamela Torres (Repsol) and Dr. Miguel Remacha (UAM). CONGRATULATIONS!

Dr. Yoshihiko Hirose visits the Applied Biocatalysis Group

Dr. Yoshihiko Hirose, enzyme application consultant at Enzyme Techno (Japan), visited our laboratories. We have established a collaboration in the field of enzymatic glycosylation of bioactive polyphenols.