Enhancing the production of rhodobacter sphaeroides-derived physiologically active substances using carbonic anhydrase-immobilized electrospun nanofibers

In order to achieve continuous biocatalytic hydration of CO₂, carbonic anhydrase (CA) derived from Rhodobacter sphaeroides was immobilized on electrospun polystyrene/poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) (PS/PSMA) nanofibers as cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEA). The CA-CLEA maintained more than 94.7% of its initial activity during 60 days of storage perio d at 4 °C and also retained more than 45.0% activity after 60 reuses. The capability of CA-CLEA to hydrolyze CO₂ was verified in terms of CaCO₃ precipitation. The immobilized CA induced enhanced cell growth of R. sphaeroides, which then increased the production of R. sphaeroides-derived organic substances including carotenoid, bacteriochlorophyll, porphyrin, and coenzyme Q10. Further exploitation of such nanofiber-catalyst complexes that allows environment friendly use of CO₂ is expected in a variety of research fields.