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Review
. 2017 Jun;57(2):131-138.
doi: 10.1007/s12088-017-0645-5. Epub 2017 Mar 25.

Bioengineering of Nitrilases Towards Its Use as Green Catalyst: Applications and Perspectives

Vinod K Nigam  1 , Tesnim Arfi  1 , Vishal Kumar  2 , Pratyoosh Shukla  2
Affiliations
Review

Bioengineering of Nitrilases Towards Its Use as Green Catalyst: Applications and Perspectives

Vinod K Nigam et al. Indian J Microbiol. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

Nitrilases are commercial biocatalysts used for the synthesis of plastics, paints, fibers in the chemical industries, pharmaceutical drugs and herbicides for agricultural uses. Nitrilase hydrolyses the nitriles and dinitriles to their corresponding carboxylic acids and ammonia. They have a broad range of substrate specificities as well as enantio-, regio- and chemo-selective properties which make them useful for biotransformation of nitriles to important compounds because of which they are considered as 'Green Catalysts'. Nitriles are widespread in nature and synthesized as a consequence of anthropogenic and biological activities. These are also present in certain plant species and are known to cause environmental pollution. Biotransformation using native organisms as catalysts tends to be insufficient since the enzyme of interest has very low amount in the total cellular protein, rate of reaction is slow along with the instability of enzymes. Therefore, to overcome these limitations, bioengineering offers an alternative approach to alter the properties of enzymes to enhance the applicability and stability. The present review highlights the aspects of producing the recombinant microorganisms and overexpressing the enzyme of interest for the enhanced stability at high temperatures, immobilization techniques, extremes of pH, organic solvents and hydrolysing dintriles to chiral compounds which may enhance the possibilities for creating specific enzymes for biotransformation.

Keywords: Bioremediation; Biotransformation; Green catalyst; Nitrilases; Thermostable.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Nitrile hydrolysing enzyme catalysed reactions
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Classification of nitrilases according to their substrate specificity
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Schematic representation of cloning and expression of isolated nitrilase gene
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
An overview of using genetically modified microorganisms in bioremediation of nitrile compounds
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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