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This presents the possibility of utilizing enzymes found in these organisms in parallel to how thermophilic organism enzymes are used, but at low temperatures as opposed to high temperatures. [4] Having the ability to live in such harsh environment comes from the organisms traits and abilities that are coded into their genomes.
-Enzymes are environmentally benign, being completely degraded in the environment. -Most enzymes typically function under mild or biological conditions, which minimizes problems of undesired side-reactions such as decomposition, isomerization , racemization and rearrangement , which often plague traditional methodology.
Some enzymes are used commercially, for example, in the synthesis of antibiotics. Some household products use enzymes to speed up chemical reactions: enzymes in biological washing powders break down protein, starch or fat stains on clothes, and enzymes in meat tenderizer break down proteins into smaller molecules, making the meat easier to chew.
Microbial enzymes are widely utilized as biocatalysts in fields such as biotechnology, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. Metagenomic data serve as a valuable resource for identifying novel CUEs from previously unknown microbes present in complex microbial communities across diverse ecosystems.
The main driver for the widespread application of enzymes is their small environmental footprint. Many traditional chemical conversions used in various industries suffer from inherent drawbacks from both an economic and environmental viewpoint. Non-specific reactions can afford low product yields, copious amounts of waste and impure products.
Environmental biotechnology can simply be described as "the optimal use of nature, in the form of plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and algae, to produce renewable energy, food and nutrients in a synergistic integrated cycle of profit making processes where the waste of each process becomes the feedstock for another process". [3]
An enzymatic biofuel cell is a specific type of fuel cell that uses enzymes as a catalyst to oxidize its fuel, rather than precious metals. Enzymatic biofuel cells, while currently confined to research facilities, are widely prized for the promise they hold in terms of their relatively inexpensive components and fuels, as well as a potential power source for bionic implants.
An exoenzyme, or extracellular enzyme, is an enzyme that is secreted by a cell and functions outside that cell. Exoenzymes are produced by both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and have been shown to be a crucial component of many biological processes. Most often these enzymes are involved in the breakdown of larger macromolecules.