Abstract
In agricultural calcareous soils, hydroxyapatite (APA) may well represent an important support for urease immobilisation and could be present in both mineral and organo-mineral complexes. In this paper we studied the formation of APA-urease-humic acid (HA) complexes after the addition of urease either before or after HAs. We then proceeded to evaluate the role of HAs on the activity and stability of the complexes as compared to the APA-urease complexes and free urease. When increasing amounts of HAs were added after urease, they did not affect the activity of the enzymes that had already adsorbed onto the complexes. On the contrary, adding the same amount of HA before the enzyme caused a significant reduction in the amount of enzyme adsorbed. However, when urease adsorption onto the APA-HA complexes was carried out in the presence of NaCl, the enzyme activity of the complexes increased sharply to 86% of the initial activity. The immobilisation of the enzyme on the support increased urease stability against pronase treatment as well as directly in soil over time. The inhibition of urease activity by Cu2+ was reduced by urease immobilisation. However, the presence of HA did not alter the stabilisation capability of APA when alone.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aoba T, Moreno EC (1985) Adsorption of phosphoserine onto hydroxyapatite and its inhibitory activity on crystal growth. J Colloid Interface Sci 106:110–121
Blakeley RL, Webb EC, Zerner B (1969) Jack bean urease (EC 3.5.1.5). A new purification and reliable rate assay. Biochemistry 8:1984–1990
Boyd SA, Mortland MM (1985) Urease activity on a clay-organic complex. Soil Sci Soc Am J 49:619–622
Burns RG (1986) Interaction of enzyme with soil mineral and organic colloids. In: Huang M, Schnitzer M (eds) Interaction of soil minerals with natural organics and microbes. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wis., pp 429–452
Burns RG, Pukite AH, McLaren AD (1972) Concerning the location and persistence of soil urease. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 36:308–311
Ciurli S, Marzadori C, Benini S, Deiana S, Gessa C (1996) Urease from the soil bacterium Bacillus pasteurii. Immobilization on Ca-polygalacturonate. Soil Biol Biochem 28:811–817
Fu MH, Tabatabai MA (1989) Nitrate reductase activity in soils: effects of trace elements. Soil Biol Biochem 21:943–946
Gianfreda L, Bollag JM (1996) Influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on enzyme activity in soil. In: Stotzky G, Bollag JM (eds) Soil biochemistry, vol 9. Dekker, New York, pp 123–176
Gianfreda L, Rao MA, Violante A (1992) Adsorption, activity and kinetic properties of urease on montmorillonite, alluminium hydroxide and Al(OH) x -montmorillonite complexes. Soil Biol Biochem 24:51–58
Gianfreda L, De Cristofaro A, Rao MA, Violante A (1995a) Kinetic behaviour of synthetic organo- and organo-mineral-urease complexes. Soil Sci Soc Am J 59:811–815
Gianfreda L, Rao MA, Violante A (1995b) Formation and activity of urease-tannate complexes affected by alluminium, iron, and manganese. Soil Sci Soc Am J 59:805–810
Haastra L, Doelman P (1991) An ecological dose-response model approach to short- and long-term effects of heavy metals on arylsulphatase activity in soil. Biol Fertil Soils 11:18–23
Huang Q, Shindo H (2000) Inhibition of free and immobilized acid phosphatase by zinc. Soil Sci 165:793–802
Hughes RB, Katz SA, Stubbins SE (1968) Inhibition of urease by metal ions. Enzymologia 36:332–334
Inskeep WP, Silvertooth JC (1988) Inhibition of hydroxyapatite precipitation in the presence of fulvic, humic, and tannic acids. Soil Sci Soc Am J 52:941–946
Kiss S, Dragan-Bularda M, Radulescu D (1975) Biological significance of enzyme accumulated in soil. Adv Agron 27:25–87
Klose S, Tabatabai MA (1999) Urease activity of microbial biomass in soils. Soil Biol Biochem 31:205–211
Kresak M, Moreno EC, Zahradnik RT, Hay DI (1977) Adsorption of amino acids onto hydroxyapatite. J Colloid Interface Sci 59:283–292
Lahdesmaki P, Piispanen R (1992) Soil enzymology: role of protective colloid systems in the preservation of exoenzyme activities in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 24:1173–1177
Lai CM, Tabatabai MA (1992) Kinetic parameters of immobilized urease. Soil Biol Biochem 24:225–228
Marzadori C, Ciavatta C, Montecchio D, Gessa C (1996) Effects of lead pollution on different soil enzyme activities. Biol Fertil Soils 22:53–58
Marzadori C, Miletti S, Gessa C, Ciurli S (1998) Immobilization of jack bean urease on hydroxyapatite: urease immobilization in alkaline soils. Soil Biol Biochem 30:1485–1490
Matar A, Torrent J, Ryan J (1992) Soil and fertilizer phosphorus and crop responses in the dryland Mediterranean zone. Adv Soil Sci 18:81–146
Mobley H, Hausinger RP (1989) Microbial ureases: significance, regulation, and molecular characterization. Microbiol Res 53:85–108
Nannipieri P, Sequi P, Fusi P (1996) Humus and enzyme activity. In: Piccolo A (eds) Humic substances in terrestrial ecosystems. Elesevier, Amsterdam, pp 293–328
Nannipieri P, Kandeler E, Ruggiero P (2002) Enzyme activities and microbiological and biochemical processes in soil. In: Burns RG, Dick RP (eds) Enzyme in the environment. Activity, ecology and applications. Dekker, New York, pp 1–33
Pettit NM, Smith ARJ, Freedman RB, Burns RG (1976) Soil urease: activity, stability and kinetic properties. Soil Biol Biochem 8:479–484
Tabatabai MA, Bremner JM (1972) Assay of urease activity in soils. Soil Biol Biochem 4:479–487
Tombacz E, Regdon T (1994) Humic substances as various colloidal systems. In: Senesi N, Miano TM (eds) Humic substances in the global environment and implications on human health. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 139–144
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Borghetti, C., Gioacchini, P., Marzadori, C. et al. Activity and stability of urease-hydroxyapatite and urease-hydroxyapatite-humic acid complexes. Biol Fertil Soils 38, 96–101 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-003-0628-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-003-0628-z