Technological advancements in industrial enzyme research

Microorganisms supply an impressive assemblage of catalysts with a wide range of applications spread across several industries. Although important, naturally occurring enzymes are, however, often unsuitable for commercial production, unless tailored to work under industrial conditions or redesigned for specific catalytic properties. Most enzymes are characterized in vitro. There could be many reasons to purify enzymes, such as to fully characterize them, to mass produce them for commercial purposes, or perhaps to merely further our knowledge on biocatalysis. Understandably, there can be no set protocols that would ensure faultless characterization/purification of enzymes as a class. These would vary according to the source of the enzyme and its specific characteristics. Depending on the properties of the enzyme, certain modifications of the methods must be considered in order to address specific problems that could be encountered throughout the process, such as enzyme insolubility or loss of enzyme activity. This chapter, while providing information on routine protocols, also aims to highlight and better comprehend some of the challenges encountered while undertaking studies on enzyme characterization/purification.