Biotechnological Applications for Microalgal Enzymes

Abstract

Enzymes are essential components of biological reactions and serve significant roles in the scalability and optimization of many industrial processes. Because of the rising economic demand for newer and more efficient enzymes to help further optimize these processes, many researchers are now focusing their efforts on more renewable and environmentally friendly sources to generate these enzymes. Microalgae are especially promising in this area since they can be cultivated in photobioreactors, allowing to produce enormous amounts of biomass at a low cost. This is seen in the expanding number of papers in this subject, notably in the use of microalgae as a source of novel enzymes. Various microalgal enzymes with various commercial uses (e.g., lipid and biofuel production, healthcare, and bioremediation) have been researched to far, and the alteration of enzymatic sequences implicated in lipid and carotenoid synthesis has shown encouraging results. This study gives an overview of the current state of the art in marine and freshwater microalgal enzymes with potential biotechnological uses, as well as prospects for this discipline.