Properties and applications of α-galactosidase in agricultural waste processing and secondary agricultural process...

Agriculture products form the foundation building blocks of our daily lives. Although they have been claimed to be renewable resources with a low carbon footprint, the agricultural community is constantly challenged to overcome two post-harvest bottlenecks: first, farm bio-waste, a substantial economic and environmental burden to the farming sector, and second, an inefficient agricultural processing sector, plagued by the need for significant energy input to generate the products. Both these sectors require extensive processing technologies that are demanding in their energy requirements and expensive. To address these issues, an enzyme(s)-based green chemistry is available to break down complex structures into bio-degradable compounds that source alternate energy with valuable by-products and co-products. α-Galactosidase is a widespread class of glycoside hydroxylases that hydrolyzes α-galactosyl moieties in simple and complex oligo and polysaccharides, glycolipids, and glycoproteins. As a result of its growing importance, in this review we discuss the source of the enzyme, production and purification systems, and enzyme properties. We also elaborate on the enzyme's potential in agricultural bio-waste management, secondary agricultural industries like sugar refining, soymilk derivatives, food and confectionery, and animal feed processing. Insight into this vital enzyme will provide new avenues for less expensive green chemistry-based secondary agricultural processing and agricultural sustainability. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.