Biotechnological potential of cold-active enzymes in industry: A review of recent progress

Psychrophilic and psychrotrophic microorganisms are widespread throughout the world and found in the depths of seas, lakes, and oceans, as well as in glaciers, polar regions, Arctic ice, caves, and on mountain peaks. Unlike their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts, these microorganisms can survive in cold climates by expressing cold-adapted enzymes that have unique catalytic properties. Cold-active enzymes exhibit higher catalytic activity at low temperatures, structural flexibility of active sites, and thermolability. Due to the specified characteristics, these enzymes are becoming increasingly attractive for industrial use, as they can lower the energy costs of the reaction, decrease the number of side reactions, and are relatively easy to inactivate. In addition, increased structural flexibility can lead to broad substrate specificity, which expands their scope of application. Due to the relative simplicity of large-scale production (as compared to that of plant and animal enzymes), microbial enzymes are becoming increasingly attractive for commercial use, which contributes to the rapid development of the enzyme market. Cold-active enzymes can be used in various biotechnological and industrial processes: molecular biology, biotransformation, detergent production, food and beverage production, the textile industry, wastewater treatment, biocellulose production, environmental bioremediation in cold climates, etc. Of particular interest for various biotechnological processes are genetically modified strains producing certain types of cold-active enzymes. This article provides a review of several recent studies on the production of cold-active microbial enzymes and their application.

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