Production of tartaric acid using immobilized recominant cis-epoxysuccinate hydrolase.

Objective: To investigate the expression and immobilization of recombinant cis-epoxysuccinate hydrolase (ESH), and its application in the biological production of L-(+)-tartaric acid.

Results: E. coli BL21 (DE3)/pET11a-ESH (His) was engineered to express recombinant ESH. The enzyme had an activity of 262 U mg-1. The recombinant ESH was immobilized on agarose Ni-IDA matrix with metal ion affinity interaction to improve its thermostability and pH stability. The immobilization efficiency and activity yield were 94 and 95%, respectively. The specific catalytic efficiency of immobilized ESH was 104 mg U-1 h-1 during the continuous enzymatic production process.

Conclusions: ESH with a histidine tag was immobilized and used for the continuous production of L-(+)-tartaric acid.