Bioconversion of Airborne Methylamine by Immobilized Recombinant Amine Oxidase from the Thermotolerant Yeast Hansenula polymorpha

Aliphatic amines, including methylamine, are air-pollutants, due to their intensive use in industry and the natural degradation of proteins, amino acids, and other nitrogen-containing compounds in biological samples. It is necessary to develop systems for removal of methylamine from the air, since airborne methylamine has a negative effect on human health. The primary amine oxidase (primary amine : oxygen oxidoreductase (deaminating) or amine oxidase, AMO; EC 1.4.3.21), a copper-containing enzyme from the thermotolerant yeast Hansenula polymorpha which was overexpressed in baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was tested for its ability to oxidize airborne methylamine. A continuous fluidized bed bioreactor (CFBR) was designed to enable bioconversion of airborne methylamine by AMO immobilized in calcium alginate (CA) beads. The results demonstrated that the bioreactor with immobilized AMO eliminates nearly 97% of the airborne methylamine. However, the enzymatic activity of AMO causes formation of formaldehyde. A two-step bioconversion process was therefore proposed. In the first step, airborne methylamine was fed into a CFBR which contained immobilized AMO. In the second step, the gas flow was passed through another CFBR, with alcohol oxidase from the yeast H. polymorpha immobilized in CA, in order to decompose the formaldehyde formed in the first step. The proposed system provided almost total elimination of the airborne methylamine and the formaldehyde.