The usefulness of proteins for facilitating chemical reactions outside biological organisms has long been known and used to great advantage. There is the potential for much greater use of proteins in facilitating a much larger variety of reactions and facilitating these reactions on a larger scale. However, there are many challenges to be overcome before this potential can be fully realized. These challenges include: the need for highly active protein systems; the need for protein systems that maintain high activity under a range of conditions; and the ability to densely pack active protein onto a porous support.
One example of a protein that is useful for catalyzing a variety of useful reactions is organophosphorous hydrolase, (“OPH”). OPH is an enzyme that might be used to inactivate chemical weapons or organophosphorous pesticides. Chemical weapons (i.e. nerve gases, especially sarin and VX) and organophosphorous pesticides (e.g. parathion, paraoxon and acephate) are highly toxic to higher organisms. Therefore, there is a need for methods of cleaning up undesirable discharges of the chemical weapons and organophosphorous pesticides in accidental spills or production plant contamination. The OPH enzyme offers the potential to inactivate chemical weapons or organophosphorous pesticide without the need for complex and expensive incineration facilities. Despite its potential, the lack of suitable methods for the large scale production of systems with active and stable OPH have limited the application of this enzyme.
The present invention provides improved protein systems that can better meet the challenges described above. Although the invention generally applies to immobilized enzyme systems, etc., in some specific examples, the invention also provides an improved method for making OPH and systems containing active OPH.