Combinatorial High-Throughput Screening of Complex Polymeric Enzyme Immobilization Supports

J Am Chem Soc. 2024 Apr 3;146(13):9112-9123. doi: 10.1021/jacs.3c14273. Epub 2024 Mar 19.

Abstract

Recent advances have demonstrated the promise of complex multicomponent polymeric supports to enable supra-biological enzyme performance. However, the discovery of such supports has been limited by time-consuming, low-throughput synthesis and screening. Here, we describe a novel combinatorial and high-throughput platform that enables rapid screening of complex and heterogeneous copolymer brushes as enzyme immobilization supports, named combinatorial high-throughput enzyme support screening (CHESS). Using a 384-well plate format, we synthesized arrays of three-component polymer brushes in the microwells using photoactivated surface-initiated polymerization and immobilized enzymes in situ. The utility of CHESS to identify optimal immobilization supports under thermally and chemically denaturing conditions was demonstrated usingBacillus subtilisLipase A (LipA). The identification of supports with optimal compositions was validated by immobilizing LipA on polymer-brush-modified biocatalyst particles. We further demonstrated that CHESS could be used to predict the optimal composition of polymer brushes a priori for the previously unexplored enzyme, alkaline phosphatase (AlkP). Our findings demonstrate that CHESS represents a predictable and reliable platform for dramatically accelerating the search of chemical compositions for immobilization supports and further facilitates the discovery of biocompatible and stabilizing materials.

MeSH terms

  • Enzymes, Immobilized* / chemistry
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays*
  • Polymers / chemistry

Substances

  • Enzymes, Immobilized
  • Polymers