Effect of AOT on enzymatic activity of the organic solvent resistant tyrosinase from Streptomyces sp. REN-21 in aqueous solutions and water-in-oil microemulsions

The effect of AOT (sodium-bis(2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate)) on enzymatic activity of the organic solvent resistant tyrosinase (OSRT) in aqueous phosphate buffer solutions and in water-in-oil microemulsions of the water/AOT/isooctane system has been investigated. In contrast to mushroom tyrosinase, AOT does not activate OSRT in aqueous solutions, altering its activity very little at concentrations lower than 2 mM. Increasing contents of AOT in isooctane reduce the observed initial reaction rates of oxidation of t-butylcatechol (tBC) and 4-methylcatechol (4-MC). Similarly to mushroom tyrosinase, the effect has been described using an equation based on preferential binding of the substrates by surfactant interface layers. The apparent Michaelis-Menten substrate binding constants increase linearly with AOT concentration (with slopes of 0.12+/-0.02 and 0.051+/-0.006 for tBC and 4-MC, respectively), and the effective enzyme turnover number in the microemulsions remains practically constant.