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Hunt for α-amylase from metagenome and strategies to improve its thermostability: a systematic review

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Abstract

With the advent of green chemistry, the use of enzymes in industrial processes serves as an alternative to the conventional chemical catalysts. A high demand for sustainable processes for catalysis has brought a significant attention to hunt for novel enzymes. Among various hydrolases, the α-amylase has a gamut of biotechnological applications owing to its pivotal role in starch-hydrolysis. Industrial demand requires enzymes with thermostability and to ameliorate this crucial property, various methods such as protein engineering, directed evolution and enzyme immobilisation strategies are devised. Besides the traditional culture-dependent approach, metagenome from uncultured bacteria serves as a bountiful resource for novel genes/biocatalysts. Exploring the extreme-niches metagenome, advancements in protein engineering and biotechnology tools encourage the mining of novel α-amylase and its stable variants to tap its robust biotechnological and industrial potential. This review outlines α-amylase and its genetics, its catalytic domain architecture and mechanism of action, and various molecular methods to ameliorate its production. It aims to impart understanding on mechanisms involved in thermostability of α-amylase, cover strategies to screen novel genes from futile habitats and some molecular methods to ameliorate its properties.

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  1. Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Sikkim University, 6th Mile, Samdur, Gangtok, 737102, Sikkim, India

    Prayatna Sharma & Nagendra Thakur

  2. Department of Microbiology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, 721102, India

    Krishnendu Mondal & Keshab Chandra Mondal

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  1. Prayatna Sharma
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  2. Krishnendu Mondal
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  4. Nagendra Thakur
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PS, KM did the analysis and prepared the manuscript; NT and Keshab Chandra Mondal designed the study, reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nagendra Thakur.

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Sharma, P., Mondal, K., Mondal, K.C. et al. Hunt for α-amylase from metagenome and strategies to improve its thermostability: a systematic review. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 38, 203 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-022-03396-0

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