Technology prospecting on microbial enzymes: Engineering and application in food industry

Abstract

Enzymes, also known as biological catalyst, are wondrous natural chemicals, produced by all living organisms. Commercial production of enzymes and their uses are major part of biotechnology industry. Industrialists' choice to enhance enzyme's catalytic property through modified raw materials under different mild conditions, applicable for food technology, is under progress. The applications of enzymes are growing rapidly in various industries due to their nontoxic, eco-friendly characteristics, reduced processing time and cost-effectiveness. Microorganisms are the most important and suitable source for the commercial enzymes. In addition, it is easy to produce and redesign the desired enzymes through microorganism's manipulation by the advance tool of genetic engineering. Industrially applicable enzymes, i.e. α-amylase, β-amylase, glucose isomerase, pullulanase, cellulase, catalase, lactase, pectinases, pectin lyase, invertase, raffinose, microbial lipases, proteases, etc., have been successfully produced by various microorganisms including fungi, bacteria and yeasts. In food processing, most of the commercially available microbial enzymes have been derived from the strains of yellow-green Aspergillus, black Aspergillus, Bacillus subtilis, yeast, Rhizopus and Penicillium because of their ubiquitous nature. These could be well employed as source for the useful enzymes such as yeast for invertase or lactase, Rhizopus for amylase or glucoamylase and Penicillium for pectinase or lipase. In current scenario, there is an emerging demand for more advanced technologies for the maximum production and utilization of industrially important microbial enzymes.