Enzymes in Food Industry: Fermentation Process, Properties, Rational Design and Applications

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2024) | Viewed by 11679

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China
Interests: enzyme; functional food; rational design; molecular simulation
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Guest Editor
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 7DN, UK
Interests: metalloenzymes; biocatalysis; protein engineering; enzyme mechanisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As common bio-macromolecular catalysts, enzymes are widely used in food preparation for improving the taste and texture of food products. More importantly, enzymes perform a crucial role in producing bioactive compounds, important food ingredients and some new nutritional ingredients, which can improve food quality and function. In this Special Issue, we welcome original research or review manuscripts that cover the utility of free enzymes and/or immobilized enzymes as efficient tools that can be applied to various aspects of the food industry. Specifically, novel enzyme mining, the structure–function relationship of enzymes, and the immobilization and modification of enzymes will be a focus. In addition, the development of novel enzymes for creating new food components and rational design of food enzymes are strongly encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Fufeng Liu
Dr. Jingming Zhao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • enzyme engineering
  • enzyme
  • food industry
  • enzyme activity
  • enzyme immobilization
  • biocatalysts
  • enzymatic modification
  • enzyme design
  • food ingredients
  • functional food
  • bioactive compounds
  • enzyme stability
  • molecular simulation
  • structure–function relationship

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 142 KiB  
Editorial
Enzymes in Food Industry: Fermentation Process, Properties, Rational Design, and Applications
by Jingming Zhao and Fufeng Liu
Foods 2024, 13(19), 3196; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13193196 - 8 Oct 2024
Viewed by 3171
Abstract
Enzymes play a vital role in the food industry, where they act as natural catalysts to improve production processes, enhance food quality, and increase efficiency [...] Full article

Research

Jump to: Editorial

17 pages, 2840 KiB  
Article
Ultrasound-Assisted Multi-Enzyme Extraction for Highly Efficient Extraction of Polysaccharides from Ulva lactuca
by Wenqian Wang, Jinbi Li, Fuping Lu and Fufeng Liu
Foods 2024, 13(6), 891; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13060891 - 15 Mar 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1945
Abstract
Ulva polysaccharides present several physiological activities including antiviral, antitumor and anti-plasmodial effects. However, current processing usually results in low yields and high prices, thus lacking commercialization potential. The aim of this study was to develop an efficient method for the extraction of Ulva [...] Read more.
Ulva polysaccharides present several physiological activities including antiviral, antitumor and anti-plasmodial effects. However, current processing usually results in low yields and high prices, thus lacking commercialization potential. The aim of this study was to develop an efficient method for the extraction of Ulva polysaccharides with high biological activity. The effect of cell wall-degrading enzymes including cellulase, hemicellulase, pectinase and protease on Ulva polysaccharide extraction was studied by statistical mixing design. Using the most effective enzyme preparations as the basic components, the optimal proportions of the enzyme mixture were determined as follows: cellulase 35.3%, pectinase 34.5%, alkaline protease 30.2%, which increased the polysaccharide yield from 6.43% in the absence of enzymes to 26.68%. Subsequently, through response surface analysis, the optimal conditions were determined: enzyme concentration of 1.5%, enzymatic time of 1.1 h, ultrasonic time of 90 min and enzymatic temperature of 60 °C. Under the optimal extraction conditions, the extraction yield of Ulva polysaccharides could be increased to 30.14%. Moreover, extracted polysaccharides exhibit strong antioxidant properties in DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl radical, superoxide radical and H2O2-induced cellular damage models. This study laid a solid foundation for the use and development of Ulva polysaccharides. Full article
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17 pages, 4523 KiB  
Article
Immobilization of Enological Pectinase on Magnetic Sensitive Polyamide Microparticles for Wine Clarification
by Sandra Cristina Oliveira, Nadya Vasileva Dencheva and Zlatan Zlatev Denchev
Foods 2024, 13(3), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13030420 - 28 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1259
Abstract
The use of free pectinases as clarification biocatalysts constitutes a well-established practice in the large-scale production of various types of wines. However, when in the form of free enzymes, the recovery and reusability of pectinases is difficult if not impossible. To address these [...] Read more.
The use of free pectinases as clarification biocatalysts constitutes a well-established practice in the large-scale production of various types of wines. However, when in the form of free enzymes, the recovery and reusability of pectinases is difficult if not impossible. To address these limitations, the present study focuses on the noncovalent adsorption immobilization of a commercial pectinolytic preparation onto highly porous polyamide 6 (PA6) microparticles, both with and without magnetic properties, prepared via activated anionic polymerization. The two pectinase complexes resulting after immobilization underwent comparative activity and kinetic studies, contrasting them with the free enzyme preparation. In comparison with the free enzyme, the PA6-immobilized pectinase complexes exhibited more than double the specific activity toward the pectin substrate. They displayed a slightly higher affinity to the substrate while acting as faster catalysts that were more resistant to inhibition. Furthermore, the immobilized complexes were applied in the clarification process of industrial rosé must, whereby they demonstrated accelerated performance as compared with the free enzyme. Moreover, the PA6-immobilized pectinase biocatalysts offered the potential for three consecutive cycles of reuse, achieving complete rosé must clarification within relevant timeframes in the range of 3–36 h. All these results suggest the potential industrial application of the pectinases noncovalently immobilized upon PA6 microparticles. Full article
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16 pages, 2237 KiB  
Article
Characterization and Molecular Dynamics Simulation of a Lipase Capable of Improving the Functional Characteristics of an Egg-Yolk-Contaminated Liquid Egg White
by Linlin Xu, Fei Pan, Yingnan Li, Huiqian Liu and Chengtao Wang
Foods 2023, 12(22), 4098; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12224098 - 11 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1417
Abstract
Lipase has great application potential in hydrolyzing residual yolk lipid in egg white liquid to restore its functional properties. In this study, a lipase gene from Bacillus subtilis was expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) and named Lip-IM. Results showed that although Lip-IM [...] Read more.
Lipase has great application potential in hydrolyzing residual yolk lipid in egg white liquid to restore its functional properties. In this study, a lipase gene from Bacillus subtilis was expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) and named Lip-IM. Results showed that although Lip-IM has stronger specificity for medium- and short-chain substrates than long-chain substrates (C16, C18), due to its excellent enzyme activity, it also has strong hydrolysis activity for long-chain substrates and maintained over 80% activity at 4–20 °C, but significantly reduced when the temperature exceeds 40 °C. The addition of 0.5% Lip-IM enhanced foaming ability by 26% (from 475 to 501%) and reduced liquid precipitation rate by 9% (from 57 to 48%). Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were run to investigate the conformational stability of Lip-IM at different temperatures. Results showed that Lip-IM maintained a stable conformation within the temperature range of 277–303 K. Fluctuations in the flexible area and backbone movement of proteins were identified as the main reasons for its poor thermal stability. Full article
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15 pages, 3310 KiB  
Article
Directed Modification of a GHF11 Thermostable Xylanase AusM for Enhancing Inhibitory Resistance towards SyXIP-I and Application of AusMPKK in Bread Making
by Dong Zhang, Jing Huang, Youyi Liu, Xingyi Chen, Tiecheng Gao, Ning Li, Weining Huang and Minchen Wu
Foods 2023, 12(19), 3574; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12193574 - 26 Sep 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1308
Abstract
To reduce the inhibition sensitivity of a thermoresistant xylanase AusM to xylanase inhibitor protein (XIP)-type in wheat flour, the site-directed mutagenesis was conducted based on the computer-aided redesign. First, fourteen single-site variants and one three-amino acid replacement variant in the thumb region of [...] Read more.
To reduce the inhibition sensitivity of a thermoresistant xylanase AusM to xylanase inhibitor protein (XIP)-type in wheat flour, the site-directed mutagenesis was conducted based on the computer-aided redesign. First, fourteen single-site variants and one three-amino acid replacement variant in the thumb region of an AusM-encoding gene (AusM) were constructed and expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3), respectively, as predicted theoretically. At a molar ratio of 100:1 between SyXIP-I/xylanase, the majority of mutants were nearly completely inactivated by the inhibitor SyXIP-I, whereas AusMN127A retained 62.7% of its initial activity and AusMPKK retained 100% of its initial activity. The optimal temperature of the best mutant AusMPKK was 60 °C, as opposed to 60–65 °C for AusM, while it exhibited improved thermostability, retaining approximately 60% of its residual activity after heating at 80 °C for 60 min. Furthermore, AusMPKK at a dosage of 1000 U/kg was more effective than AusM at 4000 U/kg in increasing specific bread loaf volume and reducing hardness during bread production and storage. Directed evolution of AusM significantly reduces inhibition sensitivity, and the mutant enzyme AusMPKK is conducive to improving bread quality and extending its shelf life. Full article
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14 pages, 2465 KiB  
Article
Improving the Thermostability of Serine Protease PB92 from Bacillus alcalophilus via Site-Directed Mutagenesis Based on Semi-Rational Design
by Huabiao Miao, Xia Xiang, Nanyu Han, Qian Wu and Zunxi Huang
Foods 2023, 12(16), 3081; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12163081 - 16 Aug 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1572
Abstract
Proteases have been widely employed in many industrial processes. In this work, we aimed to improve the thermostability of the serine protease PB92 from Bacillus alcalophilus to meet the high-temperature requirements of biotechnological treatments. Eight mutation sites (N18, S97-S101, E110, and R143) were [...] Read more.
Proteases have been widely employed in many industrial processes. In this work, we aimed to improve the thermostability of the serine protease PB92 from Bacillus alcalophilus to meet the high-temperature requirements of biotechnological treatments. Eight mutation sites (N18, S97-S101, E110, and R143) were identified, and 21 mutants were constructed from B-factor comparison and multiple sequence alignment and expressed via Bacillus subtilis. Among them, fifteen mutants exhibited increased half-life (t1/2) values at 65 °C (1.13–31.61 times greater than that of the wild type). Based on the composite score of enzyme activity and thermostability, six complex mutants were implemented. The t1/2 values of these six complex mutants were 2.12–10.05 times greater than that of the wild type at 65 °C. In addition, structural analysis revealed that the increased thermal stability of complex mutants may be related to the formation of additional hydrophobic interactions due to increased hydrophobicity and the decreased flexibility of the structure. In brief, the thermal stability of the complex mutants N18L/R143L/S97A, N18L/R143L/S99L, and N18L/R143L/G100A was increased 4-fold, which reveals application potential in industry. Full article
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