ABSTRACT
Antimicrobial enzymes are part of the living organisms that can cause inhibition in the growth or destruction of bacterial and fungal pathogens. These enzymes are considered as safe, natural, and do not exhibit any toxicity, thus they are increasingly employed in biopreservation of foods as a substitute to chemical preservatives and antibiotics. They exhibit antimicrobial activity through various mechanisms of action, either by hydrolyzing the key components of the bacterial and fungal cell walls or by in situ generations of cytotoxic products, resulting in lysis of the microbial cell. Presently, antimicrobial enzymes are used in various food applications either added individually or in a combination of two or more enzymes or combined with other antibacterial agents. Recently, the antibacterial spectrum can be enhanced by physical and chemical treatments and genetic modification may broaden their applications in agriculture, food, healthcare, and medical fields. This chapter focuses on the importance of antimicrobial enzymes, different types including hydrolases, oxido-reductases, and bacteriophage lysins, and their applications, and future potential.
