title: cBSA-147 for the preparation of bacterial biofilms in a microchannel reactor.
abstract: Whole cells are attractive biocatalysts, particularly if the reaction requires cofactors or involves multiple transformations. Immobilization of the catalyst is often a prerequisite for continuous processes. The highly cationic chemically modified plasma protein bovine serum albumin (cBSA-147) has been applied for the electrostatically mediated immobilization of the planktonic bacterium E. coli BL21 star (DE3), and the resulting biofilms were superior to those formed on poly-L-lysine coated surfaces. The biocatalyst was immobilized in a capillary column (inside diameter of 530 μm and L=30 m) and evaluated in the enantioselective reduction of ethyl acetoacetate to R-(-)ethyl hydroxybutyrate. In continuous operation in the microreactor format, the productivity of the cells was about 30% higher than that determined in a bench-scale fermentation system. This increase is attributed to the improved mass transfer over short geometrical dimensions. The similarity in the results indicates that studies on a biofilm-coated microreactor can be used for the accelerated collection of data for process optimization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jeck Fei
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaenicke
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eisele
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dorn
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Weil
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D018914:Cells, Immobilized; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine