Repetitive Synthesis of High-Molecular-Weight Hyaluronic Acid with Immobilized Enzyme Cascades

Industrial hyaluronic acid (HA) production comprises either fermentation with Streptococcus strains or extraction from rooster combs. The hard-to-control product quality is an obstacle to these processes. Enzymatic syntheses of HA were developed to produce high-molecular-weight HA with low dispersity. To facilitate enzyme recovery and biocatalyst re-use, here the immobilization of cascade enzymes onto magnetic beads was used for the synthesis of uridine-5'-diphosphate-alpha-d-N-acetyl-glucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc), UDP-glucuronic acid (UDP-GlcA), and HA. The combination of six enzymes in the UDP-sugar cascades with integrated adenosine-5'-triphosphate-regeneration reached yields between 60 and 100 % for 5 repetitive batches, proving the productivity. Immobilized HA synthase from Pasteurella multocida produced HA in repetitive batches for three days. Combining all seven immobilized enzymes in a one-pot synthesis, HA production was demonstrated for three days with a HA concentration of up to 0.37 g L-1, an average M-W of 2.7-3.6 MDa, and a dispersity of 1.02-1.03.