Genes Coding Industrially Relevant Enzymes in Fungi: Isolation and Protein Engineering of Laccases

Fungi are sources of several enzymes susceptible of applications in many and diverse industrial segments such as food, beverage, textile, leather, paper and pulp, animal feed and fuel industry. These microorganisms are safe, display efficient growth under industrial production conditions and are able to secrete ample quantities of enzymes. The main fungal enzymes having industrial relevance include cellulases, xilanases, amylases, proteases, lipases, laccases, etc. Among these, laccases are blue multicopper oxidases (MCO), using the distinctive redox ability of copper ions to catalyze the oxidation of a wide range of aromatic substrates concomitantly with the reduction of molecular oxygen to water. Catalytic properties of laccases and their low substrate specificity allow their wide application in several industrial sectors such as pulp and paper, textile and cosmetic industries, for detoxification and decoloration of sewage, in organic synthesis, for degradation of xenobiotics and bioremediation, in production of wood-fiber plates, wood blocks, and cardboard without using toxic linkers, for production of detergents and in elaboration of biosensors.