Biotechnological uses of enzymes from psychrophiles

Abstract

SummaryThe bulk of the Earth's biosphere is cold (e.g. 90% of the ocean's waters are ≤ 5°C), sustaining a broad diversity of microbial life. The permanently cold environments vary from the deep ocean to alpine reaches and to polar regions. Commensurate with the extent and diversity of the ecosystems that harbour psychrophilic life, the functional capacity of the microorganisms that inhabitat the cold biosphere are equally diverse. As a result, indigenous psychrophilic microorganisms provide an enormous natural resource of enzymes that function effectively in the cold, and these cold‐adapted enzymes have been targeted for their biotechnological potential. In this review we describe the main properties of enzymes from psychrophiles and describe some of their known biotechnological applications and ways to potentially improve their value for biotechnology. The review also covers the use of metagenomics for enzyme screening, the development of psychrophilic gene expression systems and the use of enzymes for cleaning.

2′-Deoxyribosyltransferase from Bacillus psychrosaccharolyticus: A Mesophilic-Like Biocatalyst for the Synthesis of Modified Nucleosides from a Psychrotolerant Bacterium

“…On the other hand, BpNDT has no cysteines in its primary sequence and 2-mercaptoethanol did not interfere with its activity. Scarcity or even absence, as in this case, of disulphide bridges is characteristic of cold-adapted enzymes [1,32].…”

“…Nowadays, psychrophilic microorganisms are being paid much attention as a source of cold-adapted enzymes with biotechnological interest, since these biocatalysts are more productive at low temperatures than their mesophilic or thermophilic counterparts [1,2]. An example of psychrotolerant bacteria is B. psychrosaccharolyticus (CECT 4074, ATCC 23296, DSM 6), which has been used to investigate the mechanism of solvent stress.…”

“…Cold-adapted microorganisms are a valuable source of enzymes of biotechnological interest, since these biocatalysts are more efficient at low temperatures than their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts [1,2]. Enzymes from psychrophiles present flexible structures, which render them labile at higher temperatures [3,4], but allow high turnover numbers (k cat ) at low-to-moderate temperatures.…”

Elucidation of different cold-adapted Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) trypsin X isoenzymes

“…These properties of the cold-adapted enzymes have resulted in their commercial use as for example in the biomedical and food industries[1, 2,[10][11][12][13][14][15]. The high catalytic efficiency of Atlantic cod trypsin is especially useful in the processing of biological materials.…”

Characterization of heavy metals resistant heterotrophic bacteria from soils in the Windmill Islands region, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica

“…Psychrophilic and psychrotolerant microorganisms have developed various adaptations to extreme environments through physiological and ecological mecha− nisms (Russell 1998;De Maayer et al 2014). Enzymes are an essential target for adaptation of microorganisms to extreme environments with considerable poten− tial for industrial application (Feller and Gerday 2003;Cavicchioli et al 2011;Kumar et al 2011;Gesheva and Vasileva−Tonkova 2012;Loperena et al 2012;Tropeano et al 2012). Moreover, Antarctic bacteria may develop ecologically im− portant capabilities in response to the impact of different stresses such as halo− tolerance, metal tolerance and antibiotic resistance, which provide them with se− lective advantages.…”