Psychrophilic Enzymes Adaptations and Industrial Relevance

Abstract

Psychrophilic microorganisms are one of the prominent classes of extremophiles which thrive permanently in cold environmental conditions and have appeared as affluent source of various important application tools in a wide spectrum of different innovative biotechnological technologies. For this, psychrophilic microorganisms have to surmount multiple challenges in their lifestyle and have to develop diverse range of collaborating adaptations and molecular mechanisms within different levels of their mechanistic pathway of lifecycle regulating inside the cells. One of the main adaptations of these pyschrophiles comprises of production of different novel cold adapted enzymes and cold shock proteins with remarkable properties. Psychrophilic enzymes are able to catalyze various chemical reactions even in extreme harsh conditions of temperature, pH and pressure and thus prove to be an ideal enzymatic contender in industrial technologies. These psychrophilic enzymes have increased catalytic activity at reduced temperature conditions at the cost of its substrate affinity and thus diminish the barricade of free energy of transition state. Also, these psychrozymes have improved and well modified dynamics of residues surrounding the active sites enhancing its accessibility and have an amplified potential in order to accommodate a broad range of substrates at lesser energy cost. Thus, pyschrozymes have optimum activity and structural stability at such extreme cold conditions and thus offer novel catalytic options for a range of innovative biotechnological applications. This chapter dictates various modifications of psychrophilic enzymes to sustain their lifestyle in hash conditions and summarizes their contribution in the development of various sustainable energy and environmental efficient industrial processes. In recent scenario, a range of potential advances in food and pharmaceutical industry, molecular biology, biocatalysis and biotransformation have been accomplished by using these psychrophilic enzymes.