Microbial xylosidases: Production and biochemical characterization

Degradation of complex mixture of biomass is a prerequisite for the production of easily accessible sugar residues in industrial processes. a concerted action of multiple enzyme systems is implicated for the complete hydrolysis of hemicelluloses into monosaccharides. β-xylosidase being an important enzyme of this system has been purified and biochemically characterized from many potential bacterial genera such as bacillus,clostridium,streptomyces,thermoanaerobacterium,thermomyces,and fungal genera like trichoderma,aspergillus,penicillum,fusarium. recent breakthroughs in biotechnology have overcome the tedious purification steps of enzyme production by fermentation. large scale expression of these enzymes in both homologous and heterologous expression hosts is facilitated with the advent of genetic engineering. however,screening of new organisms for production of native and superior version of current enzymes,conventional and molecular mutagenesis and improvement of enzymes by protein engineering still needs meticulous attention. this review encompasses sources,structure based classification and comparative properties of fungal and bacterial β-xylosidases along with potential solutions of current problems especially with reference to industrial enzymes.