Functional expression of Serratia marcescens H30 lipase in Escherichia coli for efficient kinetic resolution of racemic alcohols in organic solvents

A lipase from Serratia marcescens H30 was cloned and functionally expressed in E. coli in soluble form (more than 80%). The recombinant lipase activity reached 25,000 U/L after optimization. Different carriers were used to immobilize the recombinant S. marcescens lipase (SmL), and LH-EP was found to be the most ideal carrier. LH-EP immobilized SmL could catalyze enantioselective resolution of racemic alcohols. Using 4-phenyl-2-butanol as the model alcohol, the effects of temperature, organic solvent, water activity, acyl donor and substrate molar ratio on the LH-EP immobilized SmL catalyzed kinetic resolution were investigated. All of these factors influenced the resolution effect to some extent. At last, a high E value of more than 200 was achieved, with ee(s) > 99% and a conversion of 49.9%. Further studies showed that the LH-EP immobilized SmL could also catalyze the kinetic resolution of other structure similar racemic alcohols. These results indicate that the SmL is useful for biocatalytic production of chiral alcohols. This work is the first attempt of using SmL in this field, and it further broadens the application field of SmL. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.