Carbonic Anhydrase II Based Biosensing of Carbon Dioxide at High Temperature: An Analytical and MD Simulation Study

Danish Idrees, Razique Anwer,

Abstract

Concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has increased significantly due to anthropogenic activities and attributed as a major factor to global warming. Its detection by biosensing methods will provide an alternative for the assessment of CO2 concentration. Biomineralization of CO2 is one of the available methods for the biological conversion of CO2 to carbonate using a highly active enzyme, carbonic anhydrase II (CAII). CAII was used for the carbonation reaction to convert CO2 to CaCO3. The precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) was promoted in the presence of the CAII at 325 K. CAII showed an enhanced formation of solid CaCO3 through the acceleration of CO2 hydration rate at 325 K. Furthermore, the electrocatalytic properties of glassy carbon electrode enable us to determine the reduction peak potential values of CO2 through cyclic voltammetry at –1.75 and 0.3 V at 325 K. Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations were performed each at 50 ns time scale provided a deeper insight into the molecular basis of the CAII interaction with CO2 at different temperatures, highlighted that the CAII can detect CO2 up to 325 K. We assume that CAII could be an effective and economical biosensor for biomineralization of CO2 at high temperature 325 K.