Industrial Enzymes and Metabolites from Actinobacteria in Food and Medicine Industry

Abstract

Microbial enzymes are known to play a crucial role as metabolic catalysts, leading to their use in various industries and several applications. These en‐ zymes are very useful for industrial applications as they increase the reaction rates by several times than normal chemical reactions. The biochemical heterogeneity, ecological diversity and capacity of the actinobacteria to produce secondary metabolites make them an ideal objective for the production of enzymes. Members of the actinobacteria Micromonospora contains 32 species, are distributed in nature and have been isolated from different environments of different geographical zones, and also form associations with plants on its leaves, roots, rhizospheres and from nitrogen-fixing root nodules of actinorhizal and leguminous plants. The present review mainly contemplates on enzymes and metabolites of actinobac‐ terial genus Micromonospora. Micromonospora L5, isolated from C. equisetifolia nitrogen-fixing nodules, produces hydrolytic enzymes, cellulose, xylanase, pectinase, and also secretes chitinase. The production of these enzymes allows Micromonospora L5 to play a potential role to succeed for second generation biofuel production and on the composting process to meet the need in the energy crisis and solve the problem of the increasing amount of organic domestic wastes.