Adsorption of microbial esterases on Bacillus subtilis-templated cobalt oxide nanoparticles

Due to low diffusion rates and large surface areas, nanomaterials have received great interest as supporting materials for enzyme immobilization. Here, the preparation of a cobalt oxide nanoparticle using Bacillus subtilis as a biological template and use of the nanostructure for microbial esterase immobilization is described. Morphological features and size distributions were investigated using electron microscopy (EM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Catalytic properties of enzyme-coated nanostructures were investigated using 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate and p-nitrophenyl (PNP) acetate as model substrates. Enzyme-coated nanostructures were observed to retain ~85% of the initial activity after 15 successive reaction cycles, and enzyme immobilization processes could be repeated four times without a loss of immobilization potential. The present work demonstrates that B. subtilis-templated cobalt oxide nanoparticles have the potential to be used as biocompatible immobilization materials, and are promising candidates for the preparation of effective nanobiocatalysts.