Desenvolvimento e aplicações de pectinases como "ferramentas" biotecnológicas

Abstract

Pectin is a heteropolysaccharide structured mainly from residues of D-galacturonic acid, originated in walls of vegetal cells. It has thickener and structurer capacities, and it presence could results in negative characteristics in interest products. The production of enzymes by microbiologic cultivation (submerged or solid) also constitutes an important “biological tool”, able to reduce the emission of poluents and to aggregate value to certain products, commonly referred as residual biomass. Among the microorganisms most used as producers of pectinases with interest to the biotechnology stands out the filamentous fungi, able to produce high levels of protein concentration. Specific enzymes, used in many industrial applications, have the capacity to solve problems caused by pectin. Pectinases are used to induce this capacities, because its action as biocatalyst able to desert or hydrolyze the refereed substract, providing industrial advantages. This work seeks to emphasize positive results reached in industrial stages, by the use of pectinases as biological tools, for example, in the extraction of juices and oils, dealing the turbidity in beverages, bleaching paper, treating textile fibers, and releasing compounds beneficial to human health.