One step purification–immobilization of fuculose-1-phosphate aldolase, a class II DHAP dependent aldolase, by using metal-chelate supports

His-tagged recombinant fuculose-1-phosphate aldolase (FucA) from E. coli has been purified by immobilized metal-chelate affinity chromatography (IMAC) at gram scale. During this operation, there was a metal exchange between FucA and the affinity matrix, being the purification yields dependent on the metal nature, which was bound to affinity matrix. One step purification–immobilization of FucA has been carried out on metal-chelate support. The preparation of a FucA immobilized derivative, available to be used as catalyst in aldol addition reactions, has been accomplished in a single step starting from E. coli cell extracts. The best results were obtained with high density support containing Co2+. The immobilization yield was 100% and the immobilized derivative showed 63% of FucA activity initially offered to the support. The best derivative of immobilized FucA is 21-fold more stable than the soluble FucA in DMF/buffer (1:4) at 25 °C and it catalyzes aldol addition between S-Cbz-Alaninal and DHAP.