Trehalose delays the reversible but not the irreversible thermal denaturation of cutinase

The effect of trehalose (0.5 M) on the thermal stability of cutinase in the alkaline pH range was studied. The thermal unfolding induced by increasing temperature was analyzed in the absence and in the presence of trehalose according to a two‐state model (which assumes that only the folded and unfolded states of cutinase were present). Trehalose delays the reversible unfolding. The midpoint temperature of the unfolding transition (Tm) increases by 4.0°C and 2.6°C at pH 9.2 and 10.5, respectively, in the presence of trehalose. At pH 9.2 the thermal unfolding occurs at higher temperatures (Tm is 52.6°C compared to 42.0°C at pH 10.5) and a refolding yield of around 80% was obtained upon cooling. This pH value was chosen to study the irreversible inactivation (long‐term stability) of cutinase. Temperatures in the transition range from folded to unfolded state were selected and the rate constants of irreversible inactivation determined. Inactivation followed first‐order kinetics and trehalose reduced the observed rate constants of inactivation, pointing to a stabilizing effect on the irreversible inactivation step of thermal denaturation. However, if the contribution of reversible unfolding on the irreversible inactivation of cutinase was taken into account, i.e., considering the fraction of cutinase molecules in the reversible unfolded conformation, the intrinsic rate constants can be calculated. Based on the intrinsic rate constants it was concluded that trehalose does not delay the irreversible inactivation. This conclusion was further supported by comparing the activation energy of the irreversible inactivation in the absence and in the presence of trehalose. The apparent activation energy in the absence and in the presence of trehalose were 67 and 99 Kcal/mol, respectively. The activation energy calculated from intrinsic rate constants was higher in the absence (30 Kcal/mol) than in the presence of trehalose (16 Kcal/mol), showing that kinetics of the irreversible inactivation step increased in the presence of trehalose. In fact, trehalose stabilized only the reversible step of thermal denaturation of cutinase. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 70: 699–703, 2000.