Laccases and Their Applications: A Patent Review

Abstract

Abstract:Laccases are an interesting group of multi copper enzymes, which have received much attention of researchers in last decades due to their ability to oxidize both phenolic and non-phenolic lignin related compounds as well as highly recalcitrant environmental pollutants. This makes these biocatalysts very useful for their application in several biotechnological processes. Such applications include the detoxification of industrial effluents, mostly from the paper and pulp, textile and petrochemical industries, polymer synthesis, bioremediation of contaminated soils, wine and beverage stabilization. Laccases are also used as catalysts for the manufacture of anti-cancer drugs and even as ingredients in cosmetics. Recently, the utility of laccases has also been applied to nanobiotechnology. This paper reviews recent and important patents related to the properties, heterologous production, molecular cloning, and applications of laccases within different industrial fields as well as their potential extension to the nanobiotechnology area.

Enzyme immobilization: an update

“…Recycling oxidizing enzymes on molecular oxygen as electron acceptor are the most interesting ones. Thus, laccases (benzenediol: oxygen oxidoreductase; EC 1.10.3.2) belong to a particularly promising class of enzymes for the above-mentioned purposes [131]. The laccase molecule is a dimeric or tetrameric glycoprotein, which usually contains four copper atoms per monomer distributed in three redox sites.…”

Heterologous laccase production and its role in industrial applications

“…This review surveys researches on heterologous laccase expression focusing on the pivotal role played by recombinant systems towards the development of robust tools for greening modern industry. oil mills 20,22 and pulp mills wastewaters; 20 and to decontaminate soils from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH).…”

Laccase, an Emerging Tool to Fabricate Green Composites: A Review

“…It is widely distributed among various classes of angiosperm, gymnosperm, fungi, and bacteria. While laccase is involved in the synthesis and biopolymerization of lignin in higher plants (Raiskila 2008), it plays a major role in the biodegradation of lignin in wood-rotting fungi (Kunamneni et al 2008b). Although laccase has low redox potential, it can oxidize the phenolic compounds of lignin.…”

“…This oxidation property of laccase can be improved further by addition of natural or chemical mediators, promoting the oxidation of other the recalcitrant aromatic compounds (Moldes et al 2010;Garcia-Ubasart et al 2011). Because of their wide reaction capability and broad substrate specificity, laccase enzymes possess great biotechnological potential (Kunamneni et al 2008b;Garcia-Ubasart et al 2012). The promising applications of laccase include textiledye bleaching (Mendonça Maciel et al 2010), pulp bleaching (Valls et al 2010), food improvement (Gochev and Krastanov 2007;Mendonça Maciel et al 2010), bioremediation of soils and water (Murugesan 2003;Bustos-Ramírez et al 2013), polymer synthesis , and the development of biosensors and biofuel cells (Kim et al 2014;Fokina et al 2015).…”