ABSTRACT
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions and are essential for maintaining health. Enzymes are also used in industries that manufacture products essential for our modern life (e.g., chemical, biofuel, paper, food). The enzymes need to possess certain characteristics for application in these industries. A popular method is to identify the microorganisms that produce enzymes with the required character. The production of enzymes by isolated microorganisms is no longer essential as a result of advances in biotechnology; cloning and overexpression of enzyme genes can overcome this hurdle. Screening genes of the target enzymes directly from the soil is a promising technique since more than 99% of microorganisms are not culturable. However, all these methods are dependent on identication of naturally occurring enzymes.
