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What is the Difference Between Cell Immobilization and Enzyme Immobilization

December 28, 2022 Posted by Dr.Samanthi

The key difference between cell immobilization and enzyme immobilization is that an immobilized particle or biocatalyst is a whole cell in cell immobilization, while an immobilized biocatalyst is an enzyme in enzyme immobilization.

Immobilization involves techniques of anchoring either cells or enzymes on an inert support for stability and functional reuse. Cell and enzyme immobilization are two types of immobilization. They involve various techniques such as adsorption, entrapment, encapsulation, covalent binding, and cross-linking. Adsorption is the physical binding of an enzyme to the carrier matrix surface. Entrapment is when enzymes or cells are simply entrapped in a polymer matrix and do not directly attach to the support surface. Encapsulation involves the enclosing of enzymes within a semi-permeable polymer membrane such as collodion or nylon membranes in the shape of spheres. Covalent binding is based on the binding of enzymes and water-insoluble carriers. Cross-linking involves intermolecular cross-links between enzymes in the presence or absence of a solid support.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Cell Immobilization 
3. What is Enzyme Immobilization
4. Similarities –  Cell Immobilization and Enzyme Immobilization
5. Cell Immobilization vs Enzyme Immobilization in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Cell Immobilization vs Enzyme Immobilization

What is Cell Immobilization?

Cell immobilization is a process where cells are fixed in a suitable matrix in order to immobilize them. The cells include plant cells, animal cells, and microbial cells. However, plant and animal cells are easier to grow in cell cultures, unlike microbial cells. This process protects cells from shear forces and exerts special stability since cells are more prone to disruption following physical stress. The growth of cells needs biochemical support, and this is provided through intercellular interactions.

Many cells are located flat on suitable surfaces or connective matrices. This provides easier growth and mechanical support. Therefore, this process allows an efficient function to reduce the non-productive growth phase. Agarose immobilization is one example of cell immobilization. Cell immobilization involves various techniques such as adsorption, entrapment, encapsulation, covalent bonding, and cross-linking.

What is Enzyme Immobilization?

Enzyme immobilization is defined as the confinement of enzyme molecules within a matrix or solid support over a substrate in a way that it retains its full activity. Enzyme immobilization takes place as a protective method against degradation and deactivation, to remove enzymes from a reaction solution, to enhance stability, for the easy separation of enzymes from the product, and to reuse enzymes for many reaction cycles by lowering the production cost of enzymatic reactions.

Cell Immobilization vs Enzyme Immobilization in Tabular Form

Enzyme immobilization is physical or chemical. Physical methods of enzyme immobilization are adsorption, entrapment, and encapsulation. The chemical method is covalent binding for support and cross-linking. Functional groups such as the amino group, carboxyl group, hydroxyl group, sulfhydryl group, thiol group, phenolic group, and the imidazole group take part in covalent binding. Enzyme immobilization is carried out in many forms, including lipases, proteases, penicillin G Acylase, and invertase.

What are the Similarities Between Cell Immobilization and Enzyme Immobilization?

  • Cell mobilization and enzyme immobilization are two types of immobilization techniques.
  • Both techniques focus on anchoring or confining a biocatalyst to a matrix or solid support.
  • There are various methods of fixing biocatalysts onto a solid matrix, such as adsorption, entrapment, encapsulation, covalent bonding, and cross-linking.
  • Both involve intermolecular interactions.
  • Common matrices in both techniques are agar, alginate, and polyacrylamide gels.
  • Both provide stability for the biocatalyst.

What is the Difference Between Cell Immobilization and Enzyme Immobilization?

Cell immobilization involves fixing a cell as the immobilized particle, while enzyme immobilization involves fixing an enzyme as the immobilized particle. Thus, this is the key difference between cell immobilization and enzyme immobilization. An example of cell immobilization is agarose immobilization. Examples of enzyme immobilization include lipases, proteases, penicillin G Acylase and invertase. Moreover, the matrix of cell immobilization mainly contains alginate, agarose, gelatin, and agar, while the matrix of enzyme immobilization mainly contains calcium alginate, agar, and collagen.

The below infographic presents the differences between cell immobilization and enzyme immobilization in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Cell Immobilization vs Enzyme Immobilization

Cell and enzyme immobilization are two types of immobilization techniques. Cell immobilization involves fixing a cell as the immobilized particle. Types of cells include microbial cells, plant cells, and animal cells. An example is agarose immobilization. Enzyme immobilization involves fixing an enzyme as the immobilized particle. Enzyme immobilization is carried out in many forms, including lipases, proteases, penicillin G Acylase, and invertase. So, this summarizes the difference between cell mobilization and enzyme immobilization.

Reference:

1. “Enzyme Immobilization.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
2. “Immobilized Cell.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Food industry application” By Ramesh Doddagowdar – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia

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Filed Under: Biochemistry

About the Author: Dr.Samanthi

Dr.Samanthi Udayangani holds a B.Sc. Degree in Plant Science, M.Sc. in Molecular and Applied Microbiology, and PhD in Applied Microbiology. Her research interests include Bio-fertilizers, Plant-Microbe Interactions, Molecular Microbiology, Soil Fungi, and Fungal Ecology.

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