Carbon dots for photoswitching enzyme catalytic activity

Enzyme engineering for improved catalysis has wide implications. Here, we report the modulation of enzyme (porcine pancreatic lipase, PPL) catalytic activity in the presence of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) by visible light. Upon visible light irradiation, the activity of PPL/CQDs increased to 10% higher than that of free PPL, whereas without a light source, the activity of PPL/CQDs decreased to 30% lower than that of free PPL. Based on Michaelis-Menten kinetics, CQDs were confirmed to play an important role as a non-competitive inhibitor. Our results present a potential new method for developing hyper-catalytic hybrid enzymes for bio-catalytic applications.