Publisher's Synopsis
Enzymes are known to humanity since ancient times and getting increased impetus in the recent years due to its increasing importance in industries. Proteins enzymes are essentially created by living things to control their biochemical activities. Enzymes can also be thought of as catalysts that speed up biological reactions on their own. Based on their catalysed reaction types, enzymes are classified in six categories as oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases, ligases. Many different biochemical events occur naturally inside the body and they all follow a particular set of rules facilitated by enzymes as metabolic catalysts. Enzymes decrease the activation energy of various biological reactions essential to human survival without altering their overall structure, making them essential for many biological processes.
Many organisms have enzymes from the tiniest microorganisms to the most significant land and sea animals. Enzymes are only found in trace amounts in plants and animals thereby making them unavailable for commercial use. On the other hand, enzyme synthesis in microorganisms has several benefits over traditional methods including simplicity of use, quick multiplication under controlled circumstances and amenability to genetic modification, high production yield and so on. Several peculiar properties of microbial enzymes such as its catalytic action, specificity, stability, non-toxicity, environmentally benign nature, cost-effectiveness and simplicity of manufacture etc. are attracting increased interest for their use in industry. Biocatalysts for the regulated synthesis of several products from diverse substrates and microbial enzymes have gained widespread recognition in recent years. In addition, several microbial enzymes can efficiently biodegrade or bioconvert hazardous chemicals including various compounds containing nitrile, amine, carboxylic and phenolic groups into usable products. Industrial-scale production of microbial enzymes is essential due to their versatility.
Microbial laccases are one of the most important enzymes that are produced by various microorganisms including fungi, bacteria, and actinomycetes. These enzymes are copper-containing and known to catalyze the oxidation reaction of a veriaty of substrates, including phenols, aromatic amines, and lignin-derived compounds. Microbial laccases are particularly interesting for industrial applications due to their high stability, broad substrate specificity, and low cost of production.
