Pectinases as promising green biocatalysts having broad-spectrum applications: Recent trends, scope and relevance.

Pectinases are a collection of multiple enzymes which have a common substrate i.e., pectin. They can act on different parts of pectin due to the structural heterogeneity of pectin. Therefore, they have been placed in different groups such as protopectinases, polygalacturonases, polymethylesterases, pectin lyases and pectate lyases. They are naturally present both in multicellular organisms such as higher plants and in unicellular organisms such as microbes. In past decade, it has been witnessed that chemical and mechanical methods employed in industrial processes have led to environmental hazards and serious health disorders, thus increasing the search for eco-friendly approaches with minimal health risks. Hence, microbial enzymes have been extensively used as safer alternative for these environmentally unsafe methods. Among these microbial enzymes, pectinases hold great significance and is one of the principal enzymes that has been used commercially. It is predominantly used as green biocatalyst for fruit, fiber, oil, textile, beverage, pulp and paper industry. Thus, this review focusses on the structure of pectin, microbial sources of pectin and principle industrial applications of pectinases. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.