Fungal Laccase: A Versatile Enzyme for Biotechnological Applications

Abstract

Fungal laccases are multicopper oxidase enzymes whose versatility has attracted increased interest in the last decades. Despite to be known since the nineteenth century, the interest in laccase enzymes boosted after the discovery that their catalytic action could be extended to non-phenolic substrates by the presence of the so-called redox mediators. The redox mediators are low molecular weight organic compounds that act as electron shuttles between the laccase and the target substrate. The combination of laccase plus a redox mediator is called laccase-mediator system (LMS) and was first described in 1990. Thus, laccases catalyse the transformation of a great variety of aromatic and non-aromatic compounds with the simultaneous reduction of molecular oxygen to water. This feature renders laccases as green catalysts and hence their high interest for different biotechnological applications such as beverage clarification, textile processing, paper pulping, dye degradation, bioremediation, biosensors and organic synthesis. This chapter highlights the recent potential applications of fungal laccases in biotechnology.