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Antarctic Yeasts as a Source of Enzymes for Biotechnological Applications

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Book cover Fungi of Antarctica

Abstract

Psychrophilic and psychrotrophic yeasts able to live in extremely cold environments like Antarctica produce cold-active enzymes as part of their metabolic adaptation mechanisms. Some of these enzymes could be used for industrial and biotechnological applications requiring high activity at mild/cold temperatures or fast inactivation by heat. In this chapter, the basic principles for the screening of cold-active enzymes and their potential industrial applications (textiles, food and dairy products, brewing and wine industry, and laundry, among others) are presented. When it comes to the search of yeasts exhibiting cold-enzyme production, Antarctica is one of the most promising environments to work in. Cold-active hydrolytic enzymes from Antarctic yeasts such as lipases, proteases, cellulases, and amylases are mentioned in this chapter. In addition, pectinolytic, lignocellulolytic, and oil-related (lipase and esterase) enzymes produced by these microorganisms are presented, focusing on yeast isolation, screening for enzyme producers, and purification and characterization of specific cold-active enzymes. The near future should find us discussing the regulation of the use of Antarctic yeast as a source of cold enzymes, and once this point is clarified and approved by the international forums on Antarctic activities regulation, the development and scaling up of these biological products may be addressed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Maria Martha Martorell, Lucas Adolfo Mauro Ruberto & Walter Patricio Mac Cormack

  2. Cátedra de Biotecnología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Maria Martha Martorell, Lucas Adolfo Mauro Ruberto & Walter Patricio Mac Cormack

  3. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología (NANOBIOTEC-UBA-CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Lucas Adolfo Mauro Ruberto

  4. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (PROIMI-CONICET), San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Lucía Inés Castellanos de Figueroa

  5. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (UNT), San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Lucía Inés Castellanos de Figueroa

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  1. Maria Martha Martorell
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  2. Lucas Adolfo Mauro Ruberto
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  3. Lucía Inés Castellanos de Figueroa
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  4. Walter Patricio Mac Cormack
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Luiz Henrique Rosa

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Martorell, M.M., Ruberto, L.A.M., de Figueroa, L.I.C., Mac Cormack, W.P. (2019). Antarctic Yeasts as a Source of Enzymes for Biotechnological Applications. In: Rosa, L. (eds) Fungi of Antarctica. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18367-7_13

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