ALKALINE PROTEASES - A REVIEW

In recent years there has been a phenomenal increase in the use of alk aline proteases as industrial catalysts. These enzymes offer advantage s over the use of conventional chemical catalysts for numerous reasons for example they exhibit high catalytic activity a high degree of sub strate specificity, can be produced In large amounts and are economica lly viable. Although many other classes of enzymes are currently in in dustrial use, the focus of this review is on alkaline proteases from v arious sources. This is because the organisms producing enzymes capabl e of catalysing the reactions at the extremes of pH above neutrality h aving been considered as oddities thereby receiving little attention u ntil the last decade. A fresh look at some aspects of stabilization of alkaline proteases, their limitations and future strategies is also i ncluded. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.