Metagenomics: Is it a powerful tool to obtain lipases for application in biocatalysis?

In recent years, metagenomic strategies have been widely used to isolate and identify new enzymes from uncultivable components of microbial communities. Among these enzymes, various lipases have been obtained from metagenomic libraries from different environments and characterized. Although many of these lipases have characteristics that could make them interesting for application in biocatalysis, relatively little work has been done to evaluate their potential to catalyze industrially important reactions. In the present article, we highlight the latest research on lipases obtained through metagenomic tools, focusing on studies of activity and stability and investigations of application in biocatalysis. We also discuss the challenges of metagenomic approaches for the bioprospecting of new lipases.