Enzyme Stability And Stabilisation: Applications And Case Studies.

The stabilisation of enzymes is of great importance in many applications. The two main types of stability may be defined as: 1) Storage or Shelf Stability and 2) Operational Stability. The first relates to the stability of enzymes when stored as a dehydrated preparation, a solution or immobilised and is particularly concerned with retention of activity over time. The second generally relates to the retention of activity of an enzyme when in use. Both types of enzyme stability will be discussed using case studies from the analytical field (alkaline phosphatase, alcohol oxidase, acetylcholine-esterase and a recombinant luciferase) and enzyme based biosterilisers (peroxidases). The introduction of an electrophoretic technique for predicting protein-polymer interactions will be described. In addition, stabilisation using covalent immobilisation of pre-stabilised enzyme complexes will be presented using glucose oxidase as an example and a brief discussion on the likely factors influencing stability of enzymes is included.