Microbial Enzymes in Nanotechnology and Fabrication of Nanozymes: A Perspective

Abstract

The need for nanomaterials with high functionality which are biocompatible has necessitated the exploration of various biomaterials for the production of nanomaterials. Extracts of plant materials and cell-free extract of microorganisms have been widely explored, and in recent times, natural enzymes are attracting concerted attention. The expenses of enzyme production are said to increase based on system complexity from microbes to plants to animals; thus, microbes as the most unsophisticated of living systems are regularly employed for enzyme production. In this account, we reviewed the use of enzymes of microbial origin in the biosynthesis of nanomaterials, their mechanisms which include the utilization of enzymes like reductases synthesized intracellularly by microbes or via extracellularly produced enzymes. Enzymes can get involved directly in biosynthesis and stabilization of nanomaterials since they are specific in actions and could as well expedite the rate of biosynthetic process. Also, the non-enzymatic pathway of bioreduction was also discussed which could be mediated by peptides in addition to protein moieties released from the enzyme during the course of synthesis. With these advances, we thus discussed some microbial enzymes recently applied in the green method of synthesizing nanomaterials. Additionally, the limitations presented by several natural enzymes in many biological processes like lesser stability at certain pH and temperatures, and storage difficulty has necessitated the exploration of artificial, synthetic, or non-natural enzymes. However, challenges relating to biocompatibility and overall catalytic efficiency have been recounted in the application of synthetic enzymes. This has resulted in the discovery of nanomaterials possessing enzyme-like activities called nanozymes due to their exceptional properties when related with natural and classic artificial enzymes. In this review, we expounded on the fabrication of some recently reported nanozymes along with their functional applications as enzymes.