Enzyme Engineering: A Technology for the Mass Production and Application of Enzyme Preparations

Enzyme engineering is an enzyme technology. With the rapid development of enzymology research, especially the promotion of enzyme application, the basic principle of enzymology is combined with chemical engineering, thus forming enzyme engineering. Enzyme engineering is a technology for the mass production and application of enzyme preparations. Starting from the purpose of application, it combines the theory of enzymology with chemical engineering to study enzymes, and uses the catalytic properties of enzymes in a certain reaction device to convert raw materials into products. As far as the development of enzyme engineering itself is concerned, it includes the following main aspects.

Enzyme production

The sources of enzyme preparations include microorganisms, animals, and plants, but the main source is microorganisms. Because microorganisms have more advantages than animals and plants, excellent enzyme-producing strains are generally selected to produce enzymes through fermentation. In order to increase the enzyme concentration in the fermentation broth, select excellent strains, develop genetically engineered bacteria, and optimize fermentation conditions. Industrial enzymes production necessitates the development of new enzymes with unique properties, such as high temperature-resistant α-amylase, alkali-resistant protease and lipase, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to research and develop strains that produce new enzymes with special properties.

Preparation of enzymes

The separation and purification technology of enzymes is the core of the current biotechnology post-processing process. Various separation and purification techniques are used to separate and purify enzymes from microbial cells and their fermentation broths, or animal and plant cells and their culture broths, to prepare highly active enzyme preparations of different purities. In order to make the enzyme preparation more widely used in all aspects of the national economy, the activity, purity and yield of the enzyme preparation must be improved, and new separation and purification techniques need to be studied.

Enzyme and cell immobilization

Enzyme and cell immobilization research is a central task of enzyme engineering. In order to improve the stability of the enzyme, the enzyme preparation was repeatedly used to expand the application range of the enzyme preparation, and various immobilization methods were used to immobilize the enzyme to prepare the immobilized enzyme, such as immobilized glucose isomerase, immobilized aminoacylase, etc. Immobilized enzymes have broad market prospects and are highly valued by various fields such as biochemistry, chemical engineering, microorganisms, polymers, and medicine.

Immobilized cells are developed on the basis of immobilized enzymes. Various immobilization methods are used to immobilize microbial cells, animal cells and plant cells to produce various immobilized biological cells. Studying the enzymatic properties of immobilized cells, especially the kinetic properties, and researching and developing the application of immobilized cells in various aspects is a hot topic in enzyme engineering today.

Immobilization technology is an important milestone in the modernization of enzyme technology. It is a breakthrough technology that overcomes the shortcomings of natural enzymes in industrial applications and takes advantage of the characteristics of enzyme reactions. It can be said that without the development of immobilization technology, there would be no modern enzyme technology.

Enzyme molecular modification

Enzyme molecular modification is also called enzyme molecular modification. In order to improve the stability of the enzyme, reduce the antigenicity, and prolong the half-life of medicinal bacteria in the body, various modification methods are used to transform the molecular structure of the enzyme, so as to create some excellent characteristics that natural enzymes do not have, such as higher stability, no antigenicity, resistance to protease hydrolysis and so on. It can even create new enzyme activities and expand the application of enzymes, thereby improving the application value of enzymes and achieving greater economic and social benefits.