Abstract
Biocatalytic transformations in cells, such as enzyme cascades, involve complex networks proceeding in spatially confined microenvironments. Here, inspired by nature, we demonstrate effective biocatalytic cascades by the encapsulation of two or three enzymes, or enzyme/cofactor components, in zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 metal–organic framework nanoparticles (ZIF8-NMOFs) that act as nanoreactors. The integration of the two-enzyme system (glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase) or three-enzyme system (β-galactosidase, glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase) in the NMOFs leads to 7.5-fold and 5.3-fold enhancements in the activity of the catalytic cascades, respectively, compared with the bulk mixture of the catalysts in solution. In addition, the encapsulation of alcohol dehydrogenase, NAD+–polymer and lactate dehydrogenase in the NMOFs yields a coupled biocatalytic cascade involving coupled NAD+-dependent enzymes, leading to the catalytic reduction of pyruvic acid to lactic acid by ethanol.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation. We thank M. Spira and S.-Y. Sung for assisting with the confocal microscopy experiments.
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W.-H.C. and M.V.-G. performed the experiments, analysed the results and participated in writing the paper. I.W. supervised the project. A.Z. and R.A.-R. helped to perform some of the analytic experiments related to this study.
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Chen, WH., Vázquez-González, M., Zoabi, A. et al. Biocatalytic cascades driven by enzymes encapsulated in metal–organic framework nanoparticles. Nat Catal 1, 689–695 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-018-0117-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-018-0117-2
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