Biodegradation pathway of penicillins by β-lactamase encapsulated in metal-organic frameworks

The pollution caused by the abuse of antibiotics has posed a serious threat to the ecological environment and human health, so development of effective strategies for degradation and disposal of antibiotic residues is urgently needed. In this work, penicillinase, a kind of β -lactamase, was immobilized into zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) by self-assembly method and the catalytic performance of the β [email protected] porous materials for degradation of penicillins has been investigated by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry . The results illustrated that the catalytic activity of the encapsulated enzyme was significantly enhanced comparing with that of free enzyme. Meanwhile, the β [email protected] exhibited excellent stability under denaturing conditions including high temperature, organic solvent and the enzyme inhibitor . The catalytic degradation mechanism of the β [email protected] for penicillins has been probed and verified, and it has been found that the Zn (II) ion on ZIF-8 frameworks could form the complex with the target molecule, which weakened the bond of the four-membered β -lactam ring in the penicillin molecule, and thus enhanced the degradation efficiency of the enzyme. This work provided a promising strategy for eliminating the penicillin residues in water environment.