Savinase action on bovine serum albumin (BSA) monolayers demonstrated with measurements at the air–water interface and liquid Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) imaging

We studied the enzymatic action of Savinase on bovine serum albumin (BSA) organized in a monolayer spread at the air/water interface or adsorbed at the mica surface. We carried out two types of experiments. In the first one we followed the degradation of the protein monolayer by measuring the surface pressure and surface area decrease versus time. In the second approach we applied AFM imaging of the supported BSA monolayers adsorbed on mica solid supports and extracted information for the enzyme action by analyzing the obtained images of the surface topography in the course of enzyme action. In both cases we obtained an estimate for the turnover number (TON) of the enzyme reaction.

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► The enzymatic action of Savinase on bovine serum albumin (BSA) monolayer at the air/water interface was studied.
► We applied surface pressure and surface potential measurements and AFM imaging.
► We measured changes of the surface pressure and the surface area versus time during the enzyme hydrolysis.
► We obtained an estimate for the turnover number (TON).
► Using AFM liquid cell we visualized the hydrolysis, undergoing the enzymatic action of the Savinase of BSA films adsorbed on mica surfaces.