Feed Supplement Lipase Phytase Calcium Binding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current feed supplements with phytases and lipolytic enzymes have limitations in improving nutrient availability and apparent metabolizable energy in animal feed, due to instability and substrate specificity issues, as well as interactions with calcium that reduce phytase activity and fat digestibility.
Innovation Solution
A feed supplement combining specific phytases and lipolytic enzymes, such as E. coli phytase and Aspergillus tubingensis lipolytic enzyme, is used to enhance nutrient availability and energy utilization by liberating free fatty acids, which bind with calcium, reducing calcium-phytate complexes and boosting phytase activity in the gastrointestinal tract.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If phytase is added to animal feed to improve phosphorus availability, then phosphorus absorption increases, but phytase activity is reduced due to calcium binding and formation of calcium-phytate complexes
Solution Approach 1:
Lipase acts as an intermediary enzyme that first hydrolyzes triglycerides to release free fatty acids. These free fatty acids then bind to calcium ions, forming calcium soaps and reducing free calcium availability. This indirectly protects phytase from calcium inhibition and allows phytase to effectively hydrolyze phytate and release phosphorus.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines two enzymes (phytase and lipase) into a single feed supplement formulation. This synergistic combination allows lipase to reduce calcium availability through fatty acid binding, thereby enhancing phytase activity and phosphorus release. The merged system achieves greater effectiveness than either enzyme alone.
2Quantity of substance
If fungal phytase is used to degrade phytate, then phosphorus release improves, but the enzyme becomes susceptible to proteolytic degradation and loses stability
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the source organism parameter from fungal to bacterial (E. coli). Bacterial phytases exhibit different structural and biochemical properties that confer greater stability against proteolytic degradation while maintaining or enhancing phytate-degrading activity. This parameter change resolves the stability issue without sacrificing functional effectiveness.
3Quantity of substance
If inorganic phosphate is added to diets to provide sufficient phosphates for animal growth, then phosphorus requirements are met, but cost increases and phosphate pollution worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The bacterial phytase enzyme enables the animal's own digestive system to liberate phosphorus from phytate present in the feed. This self-service mechanism allows animals to access bound phosphorus without requiring external inorganic phosphate supplementation, thereby meeting phosphorus requirements while avoiding the environmental pollution associated with phosphate excretion.
4Quantity of substance
If bacterial phytase is used for phytate hydrolysis, then substrate specificity is improved, but the enzyme shows narrow specificity and poorly degrades inositol phosphates of intermediate degrees of phosphorylation
Solution Approach 1:
The bacterial phytase is combined with lipase in a dual-enzyme formulation that addresses multiple nutritional limitations simultaneously. While the phytase component maintains its specificity for phytate hydrolysis, the lipase component adds the function of triglyceride breakdown and calcium binding. This multi-functional system compensates for the narrow substrate specificity of the phytase alone.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This combination increases the availability of nutrients like phosphorus, calcium, and fat, leading to improved growth rates and energy absorption in animals, overcoming previous limitations in nutrient digestibility and phytase stability.
Implementation Method 1
Through the action of phytase, phytate is generally hydrolysed to give lower inositol-phosphates and inorganic phosphate
Implementation Method 2
The addition of exogenous lipases has had limited success in increasing lipid and mineral digestibility
Implementation Method 3
calcium in these Ca-phytate complexes has been hypothesised to make phytate inaccessible to the phytase or to compete with non-complexed phytate for the active site of the enzyme
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a feed supplement comprising a phytase and a lipolytic enzyme, wherein said lipolytic enzyme has lipase activity at a pH in the range of about pH1.5 to about pH3.5.