Chaetomium Enzymes and Their Applications

Abstract

The shift from petroleum-based industry to a greener bio-based platform is expedited by an increasing concern of global warming. The concept of waste-to-energy has become the primary focus of many industries with an economic perspective and sustainable processes signifying the utilization of biomass judiciously. So, the perennial interest for biotechnology research targeting new species with cellulolytic activity can be attributed to the important role of fungal cellulolytic enzymes in commercial food, beverages, and confectionaries processing, performing the with a few species of hydrolysis of cellulose during drying of beans, in the textile and leather industries and laundry detergents, in the conversion of biomass into industrially important solvents or fuels, and their potential application for the bioremediation of wastes. Fungal enzymes have been used in enzyme-technology industries for decades, and hence there is an ever-increasing demand for the isolation and screening of new fungal isolates. The natural ability of fungal extracellular enzymes to work under harsh conditions makes them ideal candidates for industrial catalysts and pharmaceutical industries. Many fungal enzymes are commercially exploited and successfully used in industrial scale to catalyze several chemical processes. These enzymes proved to be better, cheaper, and more environment-friendly compared to the use of chemicals. Therefore, enzyme production became a multi-billion dollar business. Fungal cellulases have been the major subjects of investigation over the years, as these catalyze the decay of lignocellulosic material in the ecosystem. Chaetomium species are well known among the cellulolytic fungi for their potential to degrade cellulosic waste and for single cell protein (SCP) production. Conducted studies indicated several enzymes with cellulolytic ability produced from Chaetomium species, Chaetomium cellulolyticum, C. erraticum, C. fusisporale, C. globosum, and C. thermophile. Future research efforts are needed for engineering cellulolytic enzymes with improved catalytic efficiency and enhanced thermostability for further improvement of cellulase performance that needs better understanding of cellulose hydrolysis mechanisms as well as the relationship of cellulase molecular structure, function, and substrate characteristics.