Rhizopus oryzae lipase (ROL) was displayed on the cell surface of
Saccharomyces cerevisiaevia the Flo1 N-terminal region (1100 amino acids), which corresponds to a flocculation functionaldomain. The activity of lipase-displaying yeast whole-cell biocatalysts was enhanced 7.3-foldby incubation of the yeast cells at 20
C in distilled water for 8 days after 8 day cultivation. Theamount of lipase molecules present in cell wall and intracellular fractions was found to beincreased 4.5- and 1.8-fold, respectively, by incubation, which proves that ROL molecules areexpressed during incubation. The ROL-displaying yeast whole-cell biocatalyst with enhancedactivity was successfully catalyzed by optical resolution of the pharmaceutical precursor (
R,
S)-1-benzyloxy-3-chloro-2-propyl monosuccinate. Moreover, it showed stable activity through atleast eight reaction cycles. These results demonstrate that ROL-displaying yeast cells withenhanced activity by incubation in distilled water are very effective in industrial bioconversionprocesses.