Marine Fungal and Bacterial Isolates for Lipase Production: A Comparative Study

Lipases, belonging to the class of enzymes called hydrolases, can catalyze triglycerides to fatty acids and glycerol. They are produced by microbes of plant and animal origin, and also by marine organisms. As marine microorganisms thrive in extreme conditions, lipases isolated from their origin possess characteristics of extremozymes, retain its activity in extreme conditions and can catalyze few chemical reactions which are impossible otherwise relative to the lipase produced from terrestrial microorganisms. Lipases are useful in many industries like detergent, food, leather, pharmaceutical, diary, etc. Few commercial enzymes have been developed and the use of them in certain industries like dairy, soaps are proved to be beneficial. There are few research papers reporting the production of lipase from marine bacteria and fungi. Lipase production involves two types of fermentation processes-solid-state fermentation (SSF) and submerged fermentation (SmF). Although SmF process is used conventionally, SSF process produces lipase in higher amounts. The production is also influenced by the composition of the medium, physiochemical parameters like temperature, pH, carbon, and nitrogen sources.