Abha Sharma, Kavish Kumar Jain, Arti Jain, Mazahir Kidwai, R C Kuhad
Laccases are multicopper enzymes present in plants, fungi, bacteria, and insects, which catalyze oxidation reactions together with four electron reduction of oxygen to water. Plant, bacterial, and insect laccases have a polymerizing role in nature, implicated in biosynthesis of lignin, melanin formation, and cuticle hardening, respectively. On the other hand, fungal laccases carry out both polymerizing (melanin synthesis and fruit body formation) as well as depolymerizing roles (lignin degradation). This bifunctionality of fungal laccases can be attributed to the presence of multiple isoforms within the same as well as different genus and species...
November 8, 2018: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology