Laccase: Recombinant Expression, Engineering and Its Promising Applications

Abstract

Laccases are cuproproteins belonging to the oxidoreductase family that catalyse the oxidation of various aromatic and non-aromatic compounds. With wide occurrence in bacteria, fungi, higher plants and insects, laccases have been majorly exploited due to their pivotal role in bioremediation and industrial uses. Low productivity and high cost limit the use of native laccases. Besides these drawbacks, native sources yield a mixture of isozymes, which is not desirable for commercial scopes. Thus, in conjunction with this, recombinant laccases have gained importance for sustainable processing due to their improved catalysis, stabilities, and solvent and anionic tolerance. Henceforth, this review mainly focuses to accentuate the recombinant laccases from fungal, mushroom, bacterial and actinobacterial sources, laccase engineering and their proficient industrial applications. The characteristic traits of the recombinant forms of laccase from distinct sources emphasise the requirement to study them more for their upcoming, hidden environmental and biotechnological applications.