Applications of Industrial/White Biotech

Enzymes

What is an enzyme?

Enzymes are macromolecules, mostly of protein nature, that occur in all living organisms. Acting as natural catalysts, they enable the biochemical reactions necessary for life to take place by increasing the reaction rates. Enzymatic reactions require neither high temperatures nor high pressure conditions, and are therefore less energy-intensive than processes dependent on chemical catalysts. Enzymes have a high specificity. In general, an enzyme catalyzes only one reaction type and operates on only one type of substrate.

Many different enzymes exist in organisms, working in the digestive system, in the metabolic processes and helping the synthesis of certain compounds. Some pesticides and herbicides work by interfering with enzyme systems, or by destroying them altogether.


Enzymes: A timeline

Ever since antiquity, mankind has made use of the catalytic, or "modifying", properties of certain enzymes for the production of food. Although enzymes have been among us since time immemorial, it was only recently that that their potential was realised in the food, textile, leather, and paper industries, in the wastewater-treatment sector, and as a washing-detergent additive. Here a few key data on enzymes:

2000 BC:
The ancient Egyptians and Sumerians discover the process of fermentation and use it to brew beer and to make bread and cheese.

800 BC:
The use of calf stomachs (and the enzyme chymosin) in the production of cheese is described in Homer’s "Iliad" and "Odyssey".

1833:
The enzyme complex of malt is isolated for the first time.

1874:
Chymosine is extracted from calf stomachs for the first time.

1874:
Glucose is converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide using cell-free yeast extract, proving that the conversion is due to the action of enzymes and not to that of living yeast cells themselves.

ca. 1900:
A method for the industrial production of the enzyme amylase (starch-degrading enzyme), which occurs in the fungus Aspergillus oryzae, is developed.

1913:
The effectiveness of washing detergents is enhanced by the addition of the proteolytic (protein-degrading) enzyme trypsin, which is obtained from animal pancreas. The product is marketed under the "Burnus" trademark until well into the 1960s.

1917:
For the first time an amylase from a bacterium (Bacillus subtilis) is used to replace the acids, bases, and oxidants that have previously been used in the desizing of textiles (removal of the starch used in textile-manufacturing processes). Mass production of the enzyme begins only after the end of the Second World War.

1950:
The first washing detergent using a bacterial protease (proteolytic enzyme) in place of pancreatic trypsin is developed.

ca. 1960:
The enzyme amyloglucosidase is first used to fully degrade starch into glucose (sugar syrup), which rapidly leads to the use of acid becoming virtually redundant in the production of glucose.

1971:
Bacterial chymosin is available for the first time as a substitute for the calf-stomach enzyme for the production of cheese.

ca. 1980:
Enzymes are used for the first time to enhance the efficiency of chlorine in paper-bleaching processes, enabling the consumption of chlorine to be cut drastically.

1982:
Amylase for the starch industry is produced in genetically modified microorganisms.

1988:
Chymosin is first produced in genetically modified yeast cells.

1997:
Chymosin from genetically modified microorganisms is given a marketing licence in Germany.

1988-1999:
Many of the enzymes used in the food sector are produced by genetic modification. Additionally, in washing detergents enzymes are in use that are modified in terms of their molecular structure for special applications. Similar developments are predicted for the food industry.