Alkaline proteases: A review

In recent years there has been a phenomenal increase in the use of alkaline proteases as industrial catalysts. These enzymes offer advantages over the use of conventional chemical catalysts for numerous reasons, for example they exhibit high catalytic activity, a high degree of substrate specificity, can be produced in large amounts and are economically viable. Although many other classes of enzymes are currently in industrial use, the focus of this review is on alkaline proteases from various sources. This is because the organisms producing enzymes capable of catalysing the reactions at the extremes of pH above neutrality, having been considered as oddities thereby receiving little attention until the last decade. A fresh look at some aspects of stabilization of alkaline proteases, their limitations and future strategies is also included.