Nanocarriers Immobilized Proteases and Their Industrial Applications: An Overview

The enzymes proteases have attracted a lot of attention due to their high demand in various industrial and other sectors since past several decades. Nanosupport bound proteases showed high efficiency of binding and yield of immobilization. Enzymes attached to such support were found significantly more resistant to the denaturation mediated by change in pH and temperature, medium particularly in the presence of water miscible and immiscible organic solvents, detergents, and several kinds of other denaturants. Immobilized enzymes were less inhibited by their own inhibitors compared to their soluble form. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the attachment of proteases to the nanosize materials prevented them from the problems of steric hindrances during binding of substrate to the active sites of the enzymes as this is frequently occurred when proteases immobilized on the bulk supports. Nanomaterials based immobilized proteases have successfully applied in batch as well as in continuous reactors for the hydrolysis of proteins in detergent and leather industry, pharmaceuticals, food supplements, synthesis of novel peptides and other useful compounds. Nanosupport bound proteases have successfully been used for the analysis of ochratoxins, heavy metals and other bivalents ions, pharmaceutically important compounds and other useful peptides, proteins, including monoclonal antibodies and the bound enzymes have also been used for screening the drugs on the basis of enzyme inhibition assay. Moreover, nanomaterials immobilized protease have shown their high catalytic efficiency in organic solvents and helped in the synthesis of several pharmaceutically and industrially important novel compounds.