Abstract
Digestive proteases from marine organisms have been poorly applied to biomedicine. Exceptions are trypsin and other digestive proteases from a few cold-adapted or temperate fish and crustacean species. These enzymes are more efficient than enzymes from microorganism and higher vertebrates that have been used traditionally. However, the biomedical potential of digestive proteases from warm environment species has received less research attention. This review aims to provide an overview of this unrealised biomedical potential, using the debridement application as a paradigm. Debridement is intended to remove nonviable, necrotic and contaminated tissue, as well as fibrin clots, and is a key step in wound treatment. We discuss the physiological role of enzymes in wound healing, the use of exogenous enzymes in debridement, and the limitations of cold-adapted enzymes such as their poor thermal stability. We show that digestive proteases from tropical crustaceans may have advantages over their cold-adapted counterparts for this and similar uses. Differences in thermal stability, auto-proteolytic stability, and susceptibility to proteinase inhibitors are discussed. Furthermore, it is proposed that the feeding behaviour of the source organism may direct the evaluation of enzymes for particular applications, as digestive proteases have evolved to fill a wide variety of feeding habitats, natural substrates, and environmental conditions. We encourage more research on the biomedical application of digestive enzymes from tropical marine crustaceans.
Highlights
Given their high enzyme diversity and the feasibility of large-scale fermentation, marine microorganisms are widely used in the exploration of enzyme resources for biotechnological applications (Wang et al 2016; Lam et al 2018) as well as in the food industry (Fernandes 2014; Maruthiah et al 2016)
This review aims to provide an overview of the unrealised biomedical potential of digestive proteases from marine tropical crustaceans using the debridement application as a paradigm
Marine organisms contain a great variety of digestive enzymes that have evolved to fulfill their wide variation in feeding habitats, natural substrates in feed, and environmental conditions; they have accumulated millions of years of sequence evolution and structural refinements to achieve this functionality
Summary
Given their high enzyme diversity and the feasibility of large-scale fermentation, marine microorganisms are widely used in the exploration of enzyme resources for biotechnological applications (Wang et al 2016; Lam et al 2018) as well as in the food industry (Fernandes 2014; Maruthiah et al 2016). Proteases are the largest group of industrial enzymes and have a variety of applications ranging from use in detergents, leather preparation and food processing. Marine proteases of non-microbial origin have been assessed for different applications, such as the use of fish (Klomklao 2008; Shahidi & Kamil 2001; Jesus de la Cruz et al 2018) and crustacean (Rossano et al 2011) digestive proteases in the food industry. Proteases can denature, are prone to proteolytic processing, and are susceptible to inhibitors. Another drawback of proteases is their poor cell permeability, they cannot reach intracellular targets and are not suited for oral administration, unless intended to act on the gastro-intestinal tract (Aehle 2004). There are areas where the use of proteases can be employed successfully such as in topical treatments
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
