Research advances in microbial esterases

Abstract:

Esterases have been gradually developed and used in medicine, chemistry, and food industry since their discovery. Only a few esterases applied in industrial production are from animals and plants, and most of novel esterases are discovered from microorganisms, a vast enzyme resource pool in the nature. However, a large number of new microbial esterases do not meet the requirements of industrial application due to low activity and poor stability. Meanwhile, the mining of new microbial esterases is limited by low versatility and high cost of the screening and activity evaluation methods. This paper summarizes the recent research advances in the classification, discovery, structural and catalytic properties, modification, optimization, and application of microbial esterases, aiming to facilitate the discovery and industrial application of esterases.