Extremophilic α-Amylases: Structural Adaptations, Discovery Strategies, and Industrial Applications (2020-2025)
Extremophilic α-Amylases: Structural Adaptations and Discovery Strategies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54393/fbt.v5i4.199Keywords:
Extremophiles, Enzyme Stability, Metagenomics, Protein Engineering, Industrial Biotechnology, Starch HydrolysisAbstract
The use of the enzyme α-amylases is a large-scale industrial enzyme used in the manufacture of food and beverages, textiles, detergents, paper, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. Conventional microbial α-amylases, primarily Bacillus and Aspergillus-based ones, have been in use for many years, but their effectiveness is often limited by the harsh conditions of industrial processes. Extremophilic enzymes such as thermophiles, halophiles, acidophiles, alkaliphiles, and psychrophiles are an attractive alternative to resilient α-amylases with exceptional thermostability, pH tolerance, salt resistance, and, in some cases, cold activity. This review sums up recent developments (2020-2025) in the discovery, biochemical characterization, as well as industrial application of extremophilic α-amylases. New culture-independent technologies, such as metagenomics, high-throughput functional screening, and machine learning-guided enzyme mining, are highlighted because they help to increase the number of genes in α-amylases of previously unculturable microorganisms. The discussion is centered on structural and mechanistic understanding concerning enzyme stability with reference to comparison to conventional counterparts. Although considerable advances have been made, there are still several gaps in the exploration of unexplored habitats, structural explanation of identified new enzymes, and cost-effectiveness of industrial applications. A combination of extremophilic scaffolds with protein engineering, synthetic biology, and sustainable fermentation has great potential for the realization of tailored α-amylases to serve advanced bioprocesses. The advances make extremophilic α-amylases an important source of industrial biotechnology innovation.
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