Fungal lipases as biocatalysts: A promising platform in several industrial biotechnology applications

Many researchers have found fungi as a reliable source of lipase due to the versatility of their properties, ease of mass production, thermal stability, pH stability, broad substrate specificity, retained activity in organic solvents, and their low-cost extraction procedure. This review paper presents an overview about the main aspects of fungal lipases screened from several types of strains as well as their use as biocatalysts. Additionally, some biochemical properties will be reported. As commonly known, lipases can be produced from animals, plants, and microorganisms. Compared to other lipases, those obtained from fungi have been found to be more productive, a fact that encouraged the massive production of most fungal lipases due to their considerable commercial importance during the past few years. This paper is concerned about some of the major characteristics that made fungal lipases desirable products in the industrial fields. Due to the enantioselective properties of fungal lipases and their ability to remain active under extreme temperature, pH, and organic solvents, enzymes are capable to synthesize esters as well as to catalyze a variety of chemical reactions that include esterification, transesterification, acidolysis and aminolysis in aqueous and nonaqueous media. Furthermore, lipases are considered to have a commercial importance for biotechnological application fields, which makes them increasingly popular in food, detergent, cosmetic, organic synthesis, and pharmaceutical domains. The biotechnological potential of lipases has made the latter a coveted choice in industries for the present and future as biocatalysts. In addition, a classification of these fungal enzymes is also highlighted in this review. Moreover, the impact of an immobilization strategy of these fungal strains to achieve higher yields and to improve their production is discussed. Finally, fungal enzymes have played a crucial role from ancient times to today in different fields using several types of biological systems, which gives them a great interest for the production of these enzymes in large amounts with low cost and easy viability to enlarge their use in many industries. Likewise, some future perspectives on lipase production will also be discussed by focusing on special cases on lipase engineering.