Industrial enzymes in bioindustrial sector development: An Indian perspective

Sustainable enzymatic treatment of organic waste in a framework of circular economy

Enzymatic treatment of food and vegetable waste (FVW) is an eco-friendly approach for producing industrially relevant value-added products. This review describes the sources, activities and potential applications of crucial enzymes in FVW valorization. The specific roles of amylase, cellulase, xylanase, ligninase, protease, pectinase, tannase, lipase and zymase enzymes were explained. The exhaustive list of value-added products that could be produced from FVW is presented. FVW valorization through enzymatic and whole-cell enzymatic valorization was compared. The note on global firms specialized in enzyme production reiterates the economic importance of enzymatic treatment. This review provides information on choosing an efficient enzymatic FVW treatment strategy, such as nanoenzyme and cross-linked based enzyme immobilization, to make the process viable, sustainable and cheaper. Finally, the importance of life cycle assessment of enzymatic valorization of FVW was impressed to prove this approach is a better option to shift from a linear to a circular economy.

A thermo-alkali stable and detergent compatible processive β-1,4-glucanase from Himalayan Bacillus sp. PCH94

Present study reports a novel and robust GH9 processive endoglucanase β-1,4-glucanase from Bacillus sp. PCH94 (EGaseBL) with thermo-alkali stable properties. The EGaseBL gene was cloned in pET-28b(+) and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) cells. The recombinant protein was purified 94-fold with a yield of 67.8%. The biochemical characterization revealed an active enzyme at a wide pH (4.0–10.0) and temperature (4–100°C). It showed a Km and Vmax of 1.10 mg/ml and 208.24 IU/mg, respectively, using β-glucan as a substrate. The EGaseBL showed dual activities for endoglucanase (134.17 IU/mg) and exoglucanase (28.76 IU/mg), assayed using substrates β-glucan and Avicel, respectively. The enzyme is highly stable in neutral and alkaline pH and showed a half-life of 11.29 h, and 8.31 h in pH 7.0 and 9.0, respectively. The enzyme is also compatible with commercial detergents (Tide, Surf, Ghadi, Raj, and Healing tree) of the Indian market and retained > 85% enzyme activity. Concisely, robustness, extreme functionality, and detergent compatibility endorse EGaseBL as a potential bioresource for the detergent industry, in addition to its implications for the bioethanol industry.

Tailoring in fungi for next generation cellulase production with special reference to CRISPR/CAS system

Cellulose is the utmost plenteous source of biopolymer in our earth, and fungi are the most efficient and ubiquitous organism in degrading the cellulosic biomass by synthesizing cellulases. Tailoring through genetic manipulation has played a substantial role in constructing novel fungal strains towards improved cellulase production of desired traits. However, the traditional methods of genetic manipulation of fungi are time-consuming and tedious. With the availability of the full-genome sequences of several industrially relevant filamentous fungi, CRISPR-CAS (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein) technology has come into the focus for the proficient development of manipulated strains of filamentous fungi. This review summarizes the mode of action of cellulases, transcription level regulation for cellulase expression, various traditional strategies of genetic manipulation with CRISPR-CAS technology to develop modified fungal strains for a preferred level of cellulase production, and the futuristic trend in this arena of research.

Kinetics of growth and co-production of amylase and protease in novel marine actinomycete, Streptomyces lopnurensis KaM5

Amylases and proteases are among the industrially most important enzymes for food processing, animal feed, brewing, starch processing, detergents, healthcare, leather processing, and biofuel production. In this study, we investigated the growth kinetics and statistically optimized the co-production of amylase and protease in a phylogenetically novel haloalkaliphilic actinomycete, Streptomyces lopnurensis KaM5 of seawater. The Plackett-Berman design using Minitab 14.0 software was employed to assess the impact of the nutritional factors, temperature, pH, and incubation time. Further, starch, yeast extract, NaCl concentrations, and incubation time were optimized by Box-Behnken design at their three levels. The Pareto charts, contour, surface plots, and individual factorial analysis expressed the variability and levels for the optimal enzyme production. ANOVA analysis admitted the statistical fitness and significance level among the variables. A two-fold increase in enzyme production was achieved by cost-effective co-production media. The study was further extended to growth kinetics associated with enzyme production. Specific growth rate (μ), maximal cell mass (X_max), volumetric product formation (P_max), rate of product formation (Q_p), and generation time (g) were computed and analyzed. These parameters significantly improved when compared with the pre-optimized conditions, and the production economics of the enzyme was industrially viable. The initial studies on the characteristics of the enzymes suggested its ability to function under the combination of alkaline pH and high salt concentrations. The co-production of enzymes from extremophiles can be a potentially viable option for large-scale production and applications.

Lipases: Sources, Production, Purification, and Applications

Background and Sources: Lipase enzyme is a naturally occurring enzyme found in the stomach and pancreatic juice. Its function is to digest fats and lipids, helping to maintain correct gallbladder function. Lipase is the one such widely used and versatile enzyme. These enzymes are obtained from animals, plants and as well as from several microorganisms and are sufficiently stable. These are considered as nature's catalysts, but commercially, only microbial lipases are being used significantly. Applications: They found enormous application in the industries of fat and oil processing, oleochemical industry, food industry, detergents, pulp and paper industry, detergents, environment management, tea processing, biosensors and cosmetics and perfumery. Various recent patents related to lipases have been revised in this review. Conclusion: Lipases are very peculiar as they have the ability to hydrolyse fats into fatty acids and glycerols at the water-lipid interface and can reverse the reaction in non-aqueous media. This natural ability makes it the most widely used enzyme in various industrial applications. This article deals with the immense versatility of lipase enzymes along with the recent advancements done in the various fields related to their purification and mass production in industries.

Magnetic nanoparticles: a versatile carrier for enzymes in bio-processing sectors

Many industrial processes experience the advantages of enzymes which evolved the demand for enzymatic technologies. The enzyme immobilisation technology using different carriers has trustworthy applications in industrial biotechnology as these techniques encompass varied advantages such as enhanced stability, activity along with reusability. Immobilisation onto nanomaterial is highly favourable as it includes almost all aspects of science. Among the various techniques of immobilisation, the uses of nanoparticles are remarkably well perceived as these possess high-specific surface area leading to high enzyme loadings. The magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are burgeoning in the field of immobilisation as it possess some of the unique properties such as high surface area to volume ratio, uniform particle size, biocompatibility and particularly the recovery of enzymes with the application of an external magnetic field. Immobilisation of industrially important enzymes onto nanoparticles offers overall combined benefits. In this review, the authors here focus on the current scenario in synthesis and functionalisation of MNPs which makes it more compatible for the enzyme immobilisation and its application in the biotechnological industries.

Thermotolerant alkaline protease enzyme from Bacillus licheniformis A10: purification, characterization, effects of surfactants and organic solvents

In this study, the extracellular thermostable alkaline protease out of A10 strain was purified 1.38-fold with 9.44% efficiency through the ammonium sulfate precipitation-dialysis and DE52 anion exchange chromatography methods. The molecular weight of the enzyme in question along with sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was determined to be approximately 40.55 kDa, whereas the optimum pH and temperature ratings were identified as 9.0 and 70 °C, respectively. It was seen that the enzyme had remained stable between pH 7.5-10.5 range, protecting more than 90% of its activity in the wake of 1 h incubation at 60-70 °C. It was also observed that the enzyme enhanced its activity in the presence of Mg(2+), Mn(2+), K(+), while Fe(2+), Ni(2+), Zn(2+), Ag(+ )and Co(2+ ) decreased the activity. Ca(2+), however, did not cause any change in the activity. The enzyme was seen to have been totally inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, therefore, proved to be a serine alkaline protease.

Optimization of selective production media for enhanced production of xylanases in submerged fermentation by Thielaviopsis basicola MTCC 1467 using L16 orthogonal array

Enzymes have been the centre of attention for researchers/industrialists worldwide due to their wide range of physiological, analytical, food/feed and industrial based applications. Among the enzymes explored for industrial applications, xylanases play an instrumental role in food/feed, textile/detergent, paper and biorefinery based application sectors. This study deals with the statistical optimization of xylanase production by Thielaviopsis basicola MTCC 1467 under submerged fermentation conditions using rice straw, as sole carbon source. Different fermentation parameters such as carbon source, nitrogen source, inorganic salts like KH2PO4, MgSO4 and pH of the medium were optimized at the individual and interactive level by Taguchi orthogonal array methodology (L16). All selected fermentation parameters influenced the enzyme production. Rice straw, the major carbon source mainly influenced the production of xylanase (~34 %). After media optimization, the yield of enzyme improved from 38 to ~60 IU/ml (161.5 %) indicating the commercial production of xylanase by T. basicola MTCC 1467. This study shows the potential of T. basicola MTCC 1467 for the efficient xylanase production under the optimized set of conditions.

Characterization of solvent stable extracellular protease from Bacillus koreensis (BK-P21A)

A total of 18 protease producing bacterial strains were isolated from detergent effluent in South Korea using skim milk agar medium. A strain (BK-P21A) was selected and identified as Bacillus koreensis based on morphological, biochemical and molecular characterizations (16S rRNA gene sequence analysis). Optimized culture conditions for the production of protease were pH 8.5, 30 °C, sucrose (2%) and yeast extract (0.2%) during 36 h of incubation. Furthermore, the protease was partially purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation (80%) and again by Superdex 200 10/300 GL and Superdex 75 10/300 GL column chromatography, which resulted in 5.0 fold purification and a yield of 23%. The molecular mass of the protease was estimated to be 48 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The purified enzyme was further characterized and found to be most active at pH 9.0 and 60 °C. The activity of the purified protease was enhanced by CaCl₂ and CoCl₂, but inhibited by PMSF, which indicated it was a serine type protease. Moreover, the protease was moderately stable in surfactants and 81% stable in H₂O₂. Finally, the enzyme was more active and stable (94-126.5%) in various hydrophilic organic solvents. Considering the stability of protease towards the alkaline pH, high temperature and organic solvents (50%), the enzyme from B. koreensis can be used as an alternative biocatalyst for several industrial applications mainly for peptide synthesis in nonaqueous solvents.

Characterization of acidic protease from Aspergillus niger BCRC 32720

An acid protease from the broth of a 24 h cultivated Aspergillus niger BCRC 32720 was purified to electrophoretical homogeneity by CM Sepharose FF and Sephacryl S-100 HR chromatographs. The specific activity, purification fold, and yield were 23.29 kU/mg, 2.5, and 24.2%, respectively. Molecular mass (M) and N-terminal amino acid sequence were 47.5 kDa and SKGSAVTT, whereas the pH and temperature optima were at 2.5 and 50 °C, respectively. It was stable at pH 2.0-4.0 or ≤40 °C and activated by Fe(2+) and cysteine, but partially inhibited by phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride and tosyllysine chloromethyl ketone and highly inhibited by Ag(+), Sn(2+), Fe(3+), Sb(3+), and pepstatin A. It was considered to be an aspartic protease.

A novel organic solvent tolerant protease from a newly isolated Geomicrobium sp. EMB2 (MTCC 10310): production optimization by response surface methodology

Thirty-eight haloalkaliphilic bacterial strains were isolated from Sambhar Salt Lake, India and screened for their ability to secrete haloalkaliphilic proteases. Among them, a moderately halophilic, mesophilic and alkaliphilic potent strain Geomicrobium sp. EMB2 produced an extracellular protease, which was remarkably stable in organic solvents, salt, surfactants, detergents and alkaline pH. Statistically based experimental designs were applied to study the interactions and optimization of medium constituents for efficient protease production by Geomicrobium sp. EMB2. An overall 20-fold increase in protease production was achieved in the optimized medium (721 U/ml) as compared with the unoptimized medium (37 U/ml). The high production level coupled with novel properties makes it a prospective industrial enzyme. The Geomicrobium sp. EMB2 isolate is deposited in Microbial Type Culture Collection, Chandigarh, India with accession number MTCC 10310.

Enzymes in food processing: a condensed overview on strategies for better biocatalysts

Food and feed is possibly the area where processing anchored in biological agents has the deepest roots. Despite this, process improvement or design and implementation of novel approaches has been consistently performed, and more so in recent years, where significant advances in enzyme engineering and biocatalyst design have fastened the pace of such developments. This paper aims to provide an updated and succinct overview on the applications of enzymes in the food sector, and of progresses made, namely, within the scope of tapping for more efficient biocatalysts, through screening, structural modification, and immobilization of enzymes. Targeted improvements aim at enzymes with enhanced thermal and operational stability, improved specific activity, modification of pH-activity profiles, and increased product specificity, among others. This has been mostly achieved through protein engineering and enzyme immobilization, along with improvements in screening. The latter has been considerably improved due to the implementation of high-throughput techniques, and due to developments in protein expression and microbial cell culture. Expanding screening to relatively unexplored environments (marine, temperature extreme environments) has also contributed to the identification and development of more efficient biocatalysts. Technological aspects are considered, but economic aspects are also briefly addressed.

Acid protease production by solid-state fermentation using Aspergillus oryzae MTCC 5341: optimization of process parameters

Aspergillus oryzae MTCC 5341, when grown on wheat bran as substrate, produces several extracellular acid proteases. Production of the major acid protease (constituting 34% of the total) by solid-state fermentation is optimized. Optimum operating conditions obtained are determined as pH 5, temperature of incubation of 30 degrees C, defatted soy flour addition of 4%, and fermentation time of 120 h, resulting in acid protease production of 8.64 x 10(5) U/g bran. Response-surface methodology is used to generate a predictive model of the combined effects of independent variables such as, pH, temperature, defatted soy flour addition, and fermentation time. The statistical design indicates that all four independent variables have significant effects on acid protease production. Optimum factor levels are pH 5.4, incubation temperature of 31 degrees C, 4.4% defatted soy flour addition, and fermentation time of 123 h to yield a maximum activity of 8.93 x 10(5) U/g bran. Evaluation experiments, carried out to verify the predictions, reveal that A. oryzae produces 8.47 x 10(5) U/g bran, which corresponds to 94.8% of the predicted value. This is the highest acid protease activity reported so far, wherein the fungus produces four times higher activity than previously reported [J Bacteriol 130(1): 48-56, 1977].