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Recent developments in biocatalysis beyond the laboratory

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Abstract

Recent developments in biocatalysis, where implementation beyond the laboratory has been demonstrated, are explored: the use of transglutaminases to modify foods, reduce allergenicity and produce advanced materials, lipases for biodiesel production, and transaminases for biochemical production. The availability and application of enzymes at pilot and larger scale opens up possibilities for further improvements of biocatalyst-based processes and the development of new processes. Enzyme production, stability, activity, re-use, and product retrieval are common challenges for biocatalytic processes. We explore recent advances in biocatalysis within the process chain, such as protein engineering, enzyme expression, and biocatalyst immobilization, in the context of these challenges.

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Acknowledgments

Jasmina Nikodinovic-Runic is partially funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia Project 173048. Tanja Narancic is funded by the EC FP7 project SYNPOL (311815); Reeta Davis is funded by Science Foundation Ireland AMBER centre (12/RC/2278). Authors acknowledge the Systems Biocatalysis COST Action CM1303.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, Earth Institute UCD, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Tanja Narancic & Kevin E. O’ Connor

  2. Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Reeta Davis

  3. Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 444a, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Jasmina Nikodinovic-Runic

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  1. Tanja Narancic
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  2. Reeta Davis
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  3. Jasmina Nikodinovic-Runic
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  4. Kevin E. O’ Connor
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Correspondence to Kevin E. O’ Connor.

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Narancic, T., Davis, R., Nikodinovic-Runic, J. et al. Recent developments in biocatalysis beyond the laboratory. Biotechnol Lett 37, 943–954 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1762-4

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