Expression of a lipase on the cell-surface of Escherichia coli using the OmpW anchoring motif and its application to enantioselective reactions

Microbial-surface display is the expression of proteins or peptides on the surface of cells by fusing an appropriate protein as an anchoring motif. Here, the outer membrane protein W (OmpW) was selected as a fusion partner for functional expression of Pseudomonas fluorescence SIK W1 lipase (TliA) on the cell-surface of Escherichia coli. Localization of the truncated OmpW-TliA fusion protein on the cell-surface was confirmed by immunoblotting and functional assay of lipase activity. Enantioselective hydrolysis of rac-phenylethyl butanoate by the displayed lipase resulted in optically active (R)-phenyl ethanol with 96 % enantiomeric excess and 44 % of conversion in 5 days. Thus, a small outer membrane protein OmpW, is a useful anchoring motif for displaying an active enzyme of ~50 kDa on the cell-surface and the surface-displayed lipase can be employed as an enantioselective biocatalyst in organic synthesis.