角蛋白酶基因工程研究

Development on the Genetic Engineering of Keratinase

角蛋白是一种广泛存在于自然界中的硬性蛋白,主要存在于各种动物的毛发、鳞片、羽毛、蹄、角等结构中。角蛋白化学结构稳定,不易被一般的蛋白酶降解,但作为角蛋白酶的专一性底物,角蛋白可被角蛋白酶降解。角蛋白酶由微生物产生,可特异性降解羽毛等含角蛋白类的物质,在食品、医药、饲料生产和环境废物处理等方面具有潜在的应用价值。综述了微生物角蛋白酶基因分离和表达研究进展,并对角蛋白酶基因在异源表达过程中出现的问题进行了讨论。

Keratin is a structural protein that can be found extensively in hairs, squamas ,feathers, hoofs and horns of animals. Keratin has a steady chemical structure and is uneasy degraded by proteolytic enzymes. As a special substrate, keratin can be digested by keratinase completely. Keratinase with different physicochemical properties can be produced by many microorganisms. It specially degrades keratin in feather and other material and has potential applications in food, medicine, feed production, environmental waste treatment and so on. The progress of the microbial keratinase gene separation and expression is reviewed. The proplems emerging in the process of heterologous expression of keratinase genes are discussed.