Recent advances and perspectives in multi-enzyme systems and immobilization for efficient rare sugars synthesis

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Enzymology
• Biocatalysis

Background:

• Rare sugars are vital in agriculture, cosmetics, food, and pharmaceuticals.
• Traditional chemical synthesis of rare sugars is limited by low selectivity and environmental impact.
• Enzymatic synthesis offers a sustainable alternative, with multi-enzyme systems showing significant promise.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review multi-enzyme systems for rare sugar biosynthesis.
• To explore diverse enzyme immobilization techniques for process optimization.
• To provide a techno-economic analysis for industrial translation of rare sugar production.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing multi-enzyme cascades (isomerases, epimerases, aldolases, etc.) with coenzymes.
• Applying various enzyme immobilization strategies: traditional, nanomaterial-based, and scaffold proteins.
• Conducting techno-economic analysis to identify production bottlenecks.

Main Results:

• Multi-enzyme systems reduce substrate costs and enhance rare sugar yields.
• Enzyme immobilization improves enzyme properties, efficiency, and stability, lowering reaction costs.
• Techno-economic analysis highlights enzyme stability and process costs as key challenges for industrialization.

Conclusions:

• Multi-enzyme systems coupled with immobilization are effective for efficient rare sugar biosynthesis.
• Addressing enzyme stability and process economics is crucial for scaling up rare sugar production.
• This review guides the industrial implementation of advanced rare sugar manufacturing technologies.