Hydrolytic Enzymes of Halophilic Microorganisms and Their Economic Values

Halophilic enzymes, known as extremozymes produced by halophilic microorganisms, have identical enzymatic features like their non-halophilic counterpart, but they exhibit different properties mainly in structure. Among these, two main points could be mentioned, (i) a high content in acidic amino-acids located predominantly at the protein surface and (ii) requirement for high salt concentration for better biological functions. The latter could be understood as a consequence of the abundance of acidic amino-acids but these two fundamental characteristics of halophilic proteins are highly cross-linking each other, making it difficult to explain unambiguously which promotes stability and function at high salinity. The following communication reviews various extracellularly produced hydrolytic enzymes from halophilic microorganisms and their economical values together with basic characteristics of protein chemistry in media with high concentration of sodium chloride and other salts.