Nowak JS, Otzen DE. Helping proteins come in from the cold: 5 burning questions about cold-active enzymes.
BBA ADVANCES 2023;
5:100104. [PMID:
38162634 PMCID:
PMC10755280 DOI:
10.1016/j.bbadva.2023.100104]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Enzymes from psychrophilic (cold-loving) organisms have attracted considerable interest over the past decades for their potential in various low-temperature industrial processes. However, we still lack large-scale commercialization of their activities. Here, we review their properties, limitations and potential. Our review is structured around answers to 5 central questions: 1. How do cold-active enzymes achieve high catalytic rates at low temperatures? 2. How is protein flexibility connected to cold-activity? 3. What are the sequence-based and structural determinants for cold-activity? 4. How does the thermodynamic stability of psychrophilic enzymes reflect their cold-active capabilities? 5. How do we effectively identify novel cold-active enzymes, and can we apply them in an industrial context? We conclude that emerging screening technologies combined with big-data handling and analysis make it reasonable to expect a bright future for our understanding and exploitation of cold-active enzymes.
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