Enzymes of the Genus Aspergillus

Abstract

Enzymes have been used throughout civilization either as animal or vegetable extracts or in the form of microorganisms. The Greek epic poems The Odyssey and The Iliad, dating around 700 B.C., both refer to the use of enzymes in cheese-making. The first microbial enzyme for industrial use was prepared by Takamine (1894), who developed a process for the manufacture of amylase using a strain of Aspergillus oryzae. The product, called “Taka-diastase,” is still used commercially. The addition of enzymes (proteases) to detergents in the 1960s marked the beginning of an era of large-scale production and application of microbial enzymes. In addition to the detergent industry, enzymes have found many uses in a number of other industrial sectors. One of the most significant has been in the area of starch processing and starch technology, where different amylolytic enzymes have been used to supplant acid hydrolysis of starch. The outcome was increased efficiency, increased yields, decreased costs, and overall a much cleaner technology. Two of the success stories in this area were α-amylase and amyloglucosidase produced by Aspergillus species. The extension of these developments led to the introduction of glucose isomerase, which catalyzes isomerization of glucose to fructose and formed the basis of the high fructose syrups industry. Other developments included the introduction of proteases, pectinases, β-galactosidase, and other enzymes (Table I).