Applications of Microbial Enzymes in Industries and Medicine

Abstract

Biomolecules that accelerate or enhance the rate of chemical reactions are known as enzymes. These enzymes are required for breakdown as well as synthesis reactions by living organisms. Enzymes, just like chemical catalysts, increase the rate of reaction by lowering the activation energy (Ea); thus, products are formed at a faster rate with the reaction reaching its equilibrium more rapidly. The importance of enzymes cannot be overemphasized. There has been a drastic increase in the global production of enzymes with more than 53,000 tons produced per year, most of which (75%) are hydrolytic, causing the breakdown of linkages in polypeptides, lipids, and polysaccharides. These enzymes (i.e., lipases, peptidases, amylases, etc.) have profound applications in various industries, such as food, chemical, agricultural, leather, textile, cosmetics, and medicine among others, which function differently from biotransformation of raw materials to use as therapeutic agents. Enzymes can be obtained from varying sources (i.e., plants, animals, and microorganisms); however, microorganisms are the most preferred choice for enzyme production. Over the past few decades, microbial production of enzymes for industrial purposes and use in medicine has proven to be of high industrial value, since these enzymes are stable, efficient, cost-effective, and can be genetically upregulated for high-yield production. Microorganisms from extreme environments (i.e., the Polar Regions, volcanoes) are, however, yet to be fully explored for enzyme production. As such, advanced techniques involving genomics and metagenomics together with some classical techniques can be used to isolate and screen microorganisms with the potential to produce industrially important enzymes from such environments.