Simultaneous measurements of enzyme propagation and biopolymer mobility elucidate the directional degradation of a dense biopolymer matrix
Abstract
Enzymatic degradation of biopolymers underpins critical processes in biotechnological applications and natural processes, such as food digestion and cancer development, yet the interplay between enzyme propagation in a dense substrate and substrate degradation remains unresolved.
It remains especially unclear whether degradation of a dense matrix facilitates or impedes enzyme propagation. We simultaneously track with spatiotemporal resolution unidirectional enzyme diffusion and biopolymer degradation in a model system. We demonstrate that enzyme diffusion is decoupled from catalytic activity, while the degradation front progression is dictated by enzyme diffusion, reaction kinetics and slow enzyme deactivation. These findings establish a quantitative framework to optimize enzymatic processes for applications in biomedicine, biomass valorization, and nanotechnology.
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BibTeX
@misc{ruzzi2026simultaneous,
title = {{Simultaneous measurements of enzyme propagation and biopolymer mobility elucidate the directional degradation of a dense biopolymer matrix}},
author = {Vincenzo Ruzzi and Antoine Bouchoux and Carole Antoine-Assor and Donna-Joe Bigot and Salma Menzeh and Maike Petermann and Laurent Leclercq and Hervé Cottet and Cédric Montanier and Claire Dumon and Luca Cipelletti and Laurence Ramos},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.03792},
eprint = {2609.03792},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05745350v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Simultaneous measurements of enzyme propagation and biopolymer mobility elucidate the directional degradation of a dense biopolymer matrix
AU - Vincenzo Ruzzi
AU - Antoine Bouchoux
AU - Carole Antoine-Assor
AU - Donna-Joe Bigot
AU - Salma Menzeh
AU - Maike Petermann
AU - Laurent Leclercq
AU - Hervé Cottet
AU - Cédric Montanier
AU - Claire Dumon
AU - Luca Cipelletti
AU - Laurence Ramos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - HAL
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.03792
UR - https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05745350v1
AB - Enzymatic degradation of biopolymers underpins critical processes in biotechnological applications and natural processes, such as food digestion and cancer development, yet the interplay between enzyme propagation in a dense substrate and substrate degradation remains unresolved. It remains especially unclear whether degradation of a dense matrix facilitates or impedes enzyme propagation. We simultaneously track with spatiotemporal resolution unidirectional enzyme diffusion and biopolymer degradation in a model system. We demonstrate that enzyme diffusion is decoupled from catalytic activity, while the degradation front progression is dictated by enzyme diffusion, reaction kinetics and slow enzyme deactivation. These findings establish a quantitative framework to optimize enzymatic processes for applications in biomedicine, biomass valorization, and nanotechnology.
ER -