Use of bacteria for rapid, pH-neutral, hydrolysis of the model hydrophobic carboxylic acid ester p-nitrophenyl picolinate

Abstract

Caulobacter crescentus, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis cultures promote the hydrolysis of the model ester p-nitrophenyl picolinate (PNPP) at neutral pH with high efficiency. Hydrolysis is related to cell concentration, while the interaction of PNPP with both bacterial cells and their extracellular molecules is required for a maximum rate of PNPP hydrolysis in C. crescentus cultures. Furthermore, C. crescentus cultures hydrolyse PNPP at concentrations useful in synthetic chemistry.

Keywords::

• Caulobacter crescentus
• Escherichia coli
• Bacillus subtilis
• green chemistry
• hydrolysis
• carboxylic esters

Acknowledgements

We thank David Bermudes, Math Cuajungco, Paula Fischhaber, Patrick Viollier and members of the Murray Lab for critical reading of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest: This work was supported by NIH grant GM084860 to SRM, a CSUPERB Faculty-Student Collaborative Research Grant to SRM and YS, and CSUN College of Science and Math start-up funds to SRM and YS. The authors have no conflict of interest and were solely responsible for the writing and content of the paper.