Microbial Proteases: Potential Tools for Industrial Applications

Abstract

The use of enzymes in applied biotechnology has progressively increased in both industrial processes, products and in medical field. Proteolytic enzymes play an important regulatory role in many physiological processes and also represent a therapeutic target for several diseases including cancer, hypertension, blood clotting disorders, respiratory and viral infection. Proteases, a largest and ubiquitous class of enzymes, have a divergent role in biomedical field. The current review includes the basic information about the protease classification and optimized growth parameters to maximize the production of alkaline proteases and applications of proteases in a wide variety of industries including leather, textile, food manufacturing, pharmaceutical, detergent and waste management. The review also implicates the importance of genetic tools to obtain the novel engineered protease with improved catalytic performance and stability, pH and thermal tolerance.