• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.456-459
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• 2005

UV spectrometric assay for measurement of epoxide hydrolase activity was tested for efficient screening of whole cell activity of epoxide hydrolase. Epoxide hydrolase activities were determined by measuring the amount of p-nitrostyrene diol (pNSD), which was the hydrolysis product of p-nitrostyrene oxide (pNSO). Enantioselective hydrolysis of racemic pNSO using epoxide hydrolase activity of Rhodosporidium toruloides was monitored by UV spectrometric assay, and the relevant $K_m$ and $V_m$ for R. toruloides were determined as $2.457nmol/min{\cdot}mg$ and 1.078 mM, respectively.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.562-567
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• 2001

Aspergillus niger LK harboring the enantioselective epoxide hydrolase (EHase) activity was isolated, and enantioselectivity of EHase was tested for various racemic aromatic epoxides. The gene encoding epoxide hydrolase was cloned from cDNA library generated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction of the isolated total mRNA. Sequence analysis showed that the cloned gene encodes 398 amino acids with a deduced molecular mass of 44.5 kDa. Database comparison of the amino acid sequence reveals that it is similar to fungal EHase, whereas the sequence identity with bacterial EHase is very low. Recombinant expression of the cloned EHase in Escherichia coli BL21 yielded an active EHases, which can offer a potential biocatalyst for the production of chiral epoxides.