Rigoldi Federica, Donini Stefano, Redaelli Alberto, Parisini Emilio, Gautieri Alfonso
Biomolecular Engineering Lab, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Center for Nano Science and Technology at Polimi, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via G. Pascoli 70/3, 20133 Milano, Italy.
APL Bioeng. 2018 Jan 11;2(1):011501. doi: 10.1063/1.4997367. eCollection 2018 Mar.
The catalytic properties of some selected enzymes have long been exploited to carry out efficient and cost-effective bioconversions in a multitude of research and industrial sectors, such as food, health, cosmetics, agriculture, chemistry, energy, and others. Nonetheless, for several applications, naturally occurring enzymes are not considered to be viable options owing to their limited stability in the required working conditions. Over the years, the quest for novel enzymes with actual potential for biotechnological applications has involved various complementary approaches such as mining enzyme variants from organisms living in extreme conditions (extremophiles), mimicking evolution in the laboratory to develop more stable enzyme variants, and more recently, using rational, computer-assisted enzyme engineering strategies. In this review, we provide an overview of the most relevant enzymes that are used for industrial applications and we discuss the strategies that are adopted to enhance enzyme stability and/or activity, along with some of the most relevant achievements. In all living species, many different enzymes catalyze fundamental chemical reactions with high substrate specificity and rate enhancements. Besides specificity, enzymes also possess many other favorable properties, such as, for instance, cost-effectiveness, good stability under mild pH and temperature conditions, generally low toxicity levels, and ease of termination of activity. As efficient natural biocatalysts, enzymes provide great opportunities to carry out important chemical reactions in several research and industrial settings, ranging from food to pharmaceutical, cosmetic, agricultural, and other crucial economic sectors.
长期以来，一些选定酶的催化特性已被用于在众多研究和工业领域（如食品、健康、化妆品、农业、化学、能源等）进行高效且经济高效的生物转化。然而，对于一些应用而言，由于天然存在的酶在所需工作条件下稳定性有限，它们并不被视为可行的选择。多年来，寻找具有实际生物技术应用潜力的新型酶涉及多种互补方法，如从极端环境生物（嗜极生物）中挖掘酶变体、在实验室模拟进化以开发更稳定的酶变体，以及最近使用合理的计算机辅助酶工程策略。在本综述中，我们概述了用于工业应用的最相关酶，并讨论了为提高酶稳定性和/或活性而采用的策略以及一些最相关的成果。在所有生物物种中，许多不同的酶以高底物特异性和速率增强催化基本化学反应。除了特异性外，酶还具有许多其他有利特性，例如成本效益高、在温和的pH和温度条件下稳定性好、一般毒性水平低以及易于终止活性。作为高效的天然生物催化剂，酶为在从食品到制药、化妆品、农业和其他关键经济领域的多个研究和工业环境中进行重要化学反应提供了巨大机会。
