Enzyme Biotechnology, Starch Hydrolysing Enzymes, Biochemical Reaction, Enzymes

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	Enzyme Biotechnology - Enzymes are biological catalysts, which initiate and accelerate thousands of biochemical reactions in living cells. They process reactions which are otherwise not possible under normal conditions found in the cell. For instance, although, hydrolysis of starch in a test tube requires strong acidic medium and high temperature (boiling), in the alimentary canal it is hydrolysed and digested under normal conditions of acidity and temperature. This is made possible by starch hydrolysing enzymes available in the stomach. In fact, almost all biochemical reactions require one or more enzymes for their completion. Non enzymatic conversions, though are known, but are very few.
Enzymes are proteinaceous in nature; they can be extracted from living tissues, purified and even crystallized. Under controlled conditions of isolation, they retain their original level of activity and in some cases even exhibit an increased activity. Thus, a purified enzyme can be used to carry on a specific biochemical reaction outside the cell. This property of enzymes has been employed for laboratory experiments as well as for commercial production of several important biochemical compounds, drugs and industrial products. In view of the above, enzyme research has become an important area of biotechnology. Different aspects of the techniques utilized in enzyme research and their commercial application will be described in this chapter. Enzymes can also be variously modified through enzyme modelling and gene manipulations for a variety of purposes, which will be discussed in the next chapter.