Proteinase Inhibitors of Microbial Origin A Review

Abstract

Naturally occurring enzyme inhibitors have been searched for in tissues of animals and plants for many decades and there are excellent reviews on proteoly-tic enzyme inhibitors [1, 2]. The possibility of the existence of enzyme inhibitors of microbial origin, however, had been suggested recently by the fact that microorganisms are able to produce antibiotics, which inhibit enzyme reactions necessary for growth and multiplication [3]. Investigations of microorganisms as producers of substances with a capacity of inhibiting proteases have until recent years been relatively few. This is rather surprising, since proteolytic enzymes outside of the microbial cells are thought to be harmful to the organisms and a probable protection mechanism against these proteolytic enzymes by production of proteinase inhibitors must be considered. It is only during the past few years that sufficient progress has been made to bring this concept into the realm of practical significance.