A novel thermo-responsive phospholipase A₁ with high selectivity and efficiency in enzymatic oil degumming

The limited availability of phospholipase A₁ (PLA₁) has posed significant challenges in enzymatic degumming. In this study, a novel PLA1 (UM2) was introduced to address this limitation, which had a unique thermo-responsive ability to switch phospholipase and lipase activities in response to temperature variations. Remarkably, UM2 displayed an unprecedented selectivity under optimized conditions, preferentially hydrolyzing phospholipids over triacylglycerols-a specificity superior to that of commercial PLA₁. Moreover, UM2 demonstrated high efficiency in hydrolyzing phospholipids with a predilection for phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). A practical application of UM2 on crude flaxseed oil led to a dramatic reduction in phosphorus content, plummeting from an initial 384.06 mg/kg to 4.38 mg/kg. Broadening its industrial applicability, UM2 effectively performed enzymatic degumming for other distinct crude vegetable oils with a unique phospholipid composition. Collectively, these results highlighted the promising application of UM2 in the field of oil degumming.