SUMMARYKeratin is a complex and structurally stable protein found in human and animal hard tissues, such as feathers, wool, hair, hoof and nails. Some of these, like feathers and wool, represent one of the main sources of protein-rich waste with significant potential to be transformed into value-added products such as feed, fertilizers or bioenergy. A major limitation impeding valorization of keratinous substrates is their recalcitrant structure and resistance to hydrolysis by common proteases. However, specialized keratinolytic enzymes produced by some microorganisms can efficiently degrade these substrates. Keratinases have already found a purpose in pharmaceutical, textile and leather industries. However, their wider implementation in other processes, such as cost-effective (pre)treatment of poultry waste, still requires optimization of production and performance of the available enzymes. Here we present a comprehensive review covering molecular properties and characteristics of keratinases, their classification, traditional and novel approaches in discovery of novel enzymes, production, characterization, improvement and biotechnological applications.
Microalgae biomass has a great potential in search for new alternative energy sources. They can be used as a substrate for the biogas production in anaerobic digestion. When using microalgae, the efficiency of this process is hampered due to the resistant cell wall. In order to accelerate the hydrolysis of cell wall and increase the efficiency of biogas production we applied two different pretreatments -biological and thermal under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. During biological pretreatment we incubated microalgae with anaerobic hydrolytic bacteria Pseudobutyrivibrio xylanivorans Mz5 T . In thermal pretreatment we incubated microalgae at 90 °C. We also tested a combined thermal and biological pretreatment in which we incubated P. xylanivorans Mz5 T with thermally pretreated microalgae. Thermal pretreatment in mesophilic and thermophilic process has increased methane production by 21% and 6%, respectively. Biological pretreatment of microalgae has increased methane production by 13%, but only under thermophilic conditions (pretreatment under mesophilic conditions showed no effect on methane production). Thermal-biological pretreatment increased methane production by 12% under thermophilic conditions and by 6% under mesophilic conditions.
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