The production, properties, and applications of thermostable steryl glucosidases

AGUIRRE, ANDRES; EBERHARDT, FLORENCIA; HAILS, GUILLERMO; CERMINATI, SEBASTIAN; CASTELLI, MARÍA EUGENIA; RASIA, RODOLFO M.; PAOLETTI, LUCIANA; MENZELLA, HUGO G.; PEIRU, SALVADOR

WORLD JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY

SPRINGER

Año: 2018 vol. 34

0959-3993

Extremophilic microorganisms are a rich source of enzymes, the enzymes which can serve as industrial catalysts that canwithstand harsh processing conditions. An example is thermostable β-glucosidases that are addressing a challenging problemin the biodiesel industry: removing steryl glucosides (SGs) from biodiesel. Steryl glucosidases (SGases) must be tolerant toheat and solvents in order to function efficiently in biodiesel. The amphipathic nature of SGs also requires enzymes with anaffinity for water/solvent interfaces in order to achieve efficient hydrolysis. Additionally, the development of an enzymaticprocess involving a commodity such as soybean biodiesel must be cost-effective, necessitating an efficient manufacturingprocess for SGases. This review summarizes the identification of microbial SGases and their applications, discusses biodieselrefining processes and the development of analytical methods for identifying and quantifying SGs in foods and biodiesel,and considers technologies for strain engineering and process optimization for the heterologous production of a SGase fromThermococcus litoralis. All of these technologies might be used for the production of other thermostable enzymes. Structuralfeatures of SGases and the feasibility of protein engineering for novel applications are explored.