Biomineralization-based conversion of carbon dioxide to calcium carbonate using recombinant carbonic anhydrase

Recently, as a mimic of the natural biomineralization process, the use of carbonic anhydrase (CA), which is an enzyme catalyzing fast reversible hydration of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate, has been suggested for biological conversion of CO2 to valuable chemicals. While purified bovine CA (BCA) has been used in previous studies, its practical utilization in CO2 conversion has been limited due to the expense of BCA preparation. In the present work, we investigated conversion of CO2 into calcium carbonate as a target carbonate mineral by using a more economical, recombinant CA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the usage of recombinant CA for biological CO2 conversion. Recombinant α-type CA originating in Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NCA) was highly expressed as a soluble form in Escherichia coli. We found that purified recombinant NCA which showed comparable CO2 hydration activity to commercial BCA significantly promoted formation of solid CaCO3 through the acceleration of CO2 hydration rate, which is naturally slow. In addition, the rate of calcite crystal formation was also accelerated using recombinant NCA. Moreover, non-purified crude recombinant NCA also showed relatively significant ability. Therefore, recombinant CA could be an effective, economical biocatalyst in practical CO2 conversion system.

► Biomineralization-based conversion of CO2 to biominerals using recombinant carbonic anhydrase (CA) biocatalyst.
► Highly expressed recombinant α-type CA originating in Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Escherichia coli.
► Comparable CO2 hydration activity of recombinant N. gonorrhoeae CA to commercial bovine CA.
► Significantly promoted formation of solid CaCO3 through the acceleration of CO2 hydration rate.