A novel direct screening method for alkyl glucoside production by glucosidases expressed in E. coli in 96-well plates

The present work describes the development of a novel direct screening method, assayed in 96-well format, for evaluation of enzymatic alkyl glycoside production in a hexanol-water two-phase system. Alkyl glycosides are surfactants with a range of applications and with good biodegradability and low toxicity. Enzymatic synthesis makes it possible to prepare β-d-glucopyranosides with high purity. In the developed screening assay, hexyl-β-d-glucopyranoside was chosen as a model product to be synthesised by reversed hydrolysis in a water-hexanol two-phase system. In a first step the model product is produced by glucosidases expressed in E. coli cells in 96-deep-well plates. After phase separation, the hexyl-β-d-glucopyranoside in the organic phase is degraded enzymatically and the released glucose detected spectrophotometrically at 405 nm utilizing peroxidase/glucose oxidase, and the reagent 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS). The aqueous phase is used to monitor hydrolysis of p-NPG at 405 nm, allowing use of a ratio of the two assays to compensate for expression differences. The complete method was used for comparison of two different β-glucosidases, classified under glycoside hydrolase family 1 and 3, respectively, showing a significant difference in their ability to synthesise hexyl-β-d-glucopyranoside by reversed hydrolysis.