Chapter 2 - Useful microbial enzymes—an introduction

Abstract

Due to their many valuable properties and wide applications, enzymes have played an essential role in our society. They are crucial elements in the progress of many industries, including foods, beverages, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, therapy, personal care, animal feed, detergents, pulp and paper, textiles, leather, chemicals, and biofuels. In recent decades, microbial enzymes have replaced many plants and animal enzymes. This replacement is because microbial enzymes are widely available and produced economically in short fermentations and cheap mediums. Screening is simple, and strain improvement for enhanced production has been very successful. The recent progress in recombinant DNA technology has strongly influenced their production levels. They represent a tool to overproduce industrially important microbial enzymes. It has been estimated that around 50%–60% of the world enzyme market is of recombinant origin. Molecular methods, including genomics and metagenomics, are being used to discover novel enzymes from microbes. Besides, directed evolution has allowed the design of enzyme specificities and better performance.