Electrochemical Evaluation of Laccase Activity in Must

Abstract

As laccase (produced by Botrytis cinerea) can significantly alter the properties of wine, winemakers frequently use commercially available colorimetric kits and spectrophotometers to measure the activity of this enzyme in grapes, must and wine. Although the used kits are based on electrochemically active substrates (such as syringaldazine and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), ABTS), the electrochemical determination of laccase activity as an alternative to the colorimetric determination was not thoroughly investigated up to now. Therefore, in the present work, we explored the electrochemical determination of laccase activity. Laccase activity measurements were carried out using either carbon fiber microelectrodes or screen-printed electrodes as working electrodes, either syringaldazine or ABTS as the electrochemically active laccase substrate, and either cyclic voltammetry or constant potential amperometry as the electrochemical method. The best performing approach, which combines ABTS, screen-printed gold electrodes, and constant potential amperometry, allowed identifying laccase positive must sample (i.e., must samples with › 3U/mL laccase) in about 5 min.