Admissions Open
Admissions Open
Laccases (EC 1.10.3.2) are copper-containing enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of organic and inorganic substrates including polyphenols, amino phenols, methoxy phenols, aromatic amines and ascorbate with concomitant four electron reduction of oxygen to water. Laccases are widely distributed in higher plants, fungi and bacteria. The ability of laccase to oxidize phenolic compounds and to reduce molecular oxygen to water has made it an enzyme of interest for various scientific and industry-based research groups. Microbial laccases are preferred for industrial and commercial processes due to easy and higher level of production in shorter time period, comparatively easy purification with respect to plants laccase. It is generally used in textile industry, healthcare industry, pulp and paper industry, bioremediation and food industry. Food industry is growing rapidly particularly in developing countries and enzymes are now commonly used for processing of various food materials. Laccase is one the important industrial food enzyme commonly used for juice industry, baking and wine stabilization and bioremediation of food industry waste. An attempt has been made to collectively present the relevant information about microbial laccase used in food industry. Most of the review articles focus over various industrial applications but this review focuses over the applications of microbial laccases specifically in food industry for various processes.