ENZYME ENGINEERING-NEWER AND BETTER BIO-CATALYSTS

Application of Biotechnology in food processing is largely based on use of many enzymes that can catalyze a variety of reactions beneficial during food processing. If bio-fuel is becoming a reality it is due to the marvelous role played by enzymes like cellulase, amylase, amyloglucosidase and yeast enzymes in converting agricultural materials to alcohol. There are many such enzyme systems mostly derived from microorganisms accomplishing tasks other wise difficult and laborious to achieve. HFCS, the leading sweetener from Corn grains would not have been there but for the role played by the enzyme Glucose Isomerase. The emerging area of enzyme engineering strives to address the needs of many industries including food processing sector, reducing the investment and the processing cost dramatically..

"Enzyme engineering is the recent technology growing rapidly due to its higher application in a lot of fields and due to having bright and clear future vision. A most exciting development over the last few years is the application of genetic engineering techniques to enzyme technology. There are a number of properties which may be improved or altered by genetic engineering including the yield and kinetics of the enzyme, the ease of downstream processing and various safety aspects. Enzymes from dangerous or unapproved microorganisms and from slow-growing or limited plant or animal tissue may be cloned into safe high-production microorganisms. The amount of enzyme produced by a microorganism may be increased by increasing the number of gene copies that code for it. For example; The engineered cells, aided by the plasmid amplification at around 50 copies per cell, produce penicillin – G – Amidase constitutively and in considerably higher quantities than does the fully induced parental strain. Such increased yields are economically relevant not just for the increased volumetric productivity but also because of reduced downstream processing costs, the resulting crude enzyme being that much purer. New enzyme structures may be designed and produced in order to improve on existing enzymes or create new activities. Much protein engineering has been directed at Subtilisin (from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens), the principal enzyme in the detergent enzyme preparation, Alcalase. This has been aimed at the improvement of its activity in detergents by stabilizing it at even higher temperatures, pH and oxidant strength. A number of possibilities now exist for the construction of artificial enzymes. These are generally synthetic polymers or oligomers with enzyme-like activities, often called synzymes. Enzymes can be immobilized i.e., an enzyme can be linked to an inert support material without loss of activity which facilitates reuse and recycling of the enzyme.Use of engineered enzyme to form biosensor for the analytical use is also recent activity among the developed countries. Some enzymes make use in diseases diagnosis so they can be genetically engineered to make the task easier. Thus it is obvious that there is huge scope of the enzyme technology in the future as well as in present.Enzyme engineering is the recent technology growing rapidly due to its higher application in a lot of fields and due to having bright and clear future vision. A most exciting development over the last few years is the application of genetic engineering techniques to enzyme technology. There are a number of properties which may be improved or altered by genetic engineering including the yield and kinetics of the enzyme, the ease of downstream processing and various safety aspects. Enzymes from dangerous or unapproved microorganisms and from slow-growing or limited plant or animal tissue may be cloned into safe high-production microorganisms. The amount of enzyme produced by a microorganism may be increased by increasing the number of gene copies that code for it. For example; The engineered cells, aided by the plasmid amplification at around 50 copies per cell, produce penicillin – G – Amidase constitutively and in considerably higher quantities than does the fully induced parental strain. Such increased yields are economically relevant not just for the increased volumetric productivity but also because of reduced downstream processing costs, the resulting crude enzyme being that much purer. New enzyme structures may be designed and produced in order to improve on existing enzymes or create new activities. Much protein engineering has been directed at Subtilisin (from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens), the principal enzyme in the detergent enzyme preparation, Alcalase. This has been aimed at the improvement of its activity in detergents by stabilizing it at even higher temperatures, pH and oxidant strength. A number of possibilities now exist for the construction of artificial enzymes. These are generally synthetic polymers or oligomers with enzyme-like activities, often called synzymes. Enzymes can be immobilized i.e., an enzyme can be linked to an inert support material without loss of activity which facilitates reuse and recycling of the enzyme.Use of engineered enzyme to form biosensor for the analytical use is also recent activity among the developed countries. Some enzymes make use in diseases diagnosis so they can be genetically engineered to make the task easier. Thus it is obvious that there is huge scope of the enzyme technology in the future as well as in present".

How far the on-going controversy about safety of Genetic Engineering techniques will influence the progress of enzyme use is a matter of conjecture. Since enzymes are only mediators of chemical reactions and not a part of the final product consumed by humans, such controversies should not come in the way of their wider use for the benefit of the consumer.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com