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Foods
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Emerging Enzyme Engineering Techniques in Foods
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Emerging Enzyme Engineering Techniques in Foods

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2026) | Viewed by 993

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hugo Juarez Vieira Pereira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Federal University of Alagoas, UFAL—A. C, Simões Campus Alagoas, Maceió 57072-900, Brazil
Interests: biocatalysis; agro-industrial residue valorization; enzyme biotechnology; food biochemistry; sustainable food processing; enzymatic hydrolysis; bioactive compounds; functional foods and bioprocess development for circular bioeconomy applications
Dr. Francis Soares Gomes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Federal University of Alagoas, UFAL—A. C, Simões Campus Alagoas, 57072-900 Maceió, Brazil
Interests: biochemistry; purification, characterization, evaluation of biological activities; biotechnological applications of proteins; biocatalysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the Guest Editor of the Special Issue "Emerging Enzyme Engineering Techniques in Foods" in Foods (ISSN 2304-8158, IF 4.350), I would like to invite you to contribute an original article or review paper focusing on innovative strategies for enzyme design and application in food systems.

The development of engineered enzymes is opening new pathways to improve food processing efficiency, enhance product quality, and address sustainability challenges. Advances in molecular biology, protein engineering, and immobilization techniques now enable enzymatic properties to be tailored to meet the specific functional, nutritional, and sensory demands of the food industry.

This Special Issue will highlight recent progress in enzyme discovery, modification, and integration into food processes. Studies addressing innovative engineering methods, structure–function relationships, and practical applications of enzymes for emerging food technologies are particularly welcome.

Dr. Hugo Juarez Vieira Pereira
Dr. Francis Soares Gomes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • enzyme engineering
  • protein design
  • biocatalysis in food systems
  • enzyme immobilization
  • molecular modification
  • sustainable food processing

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 11941 KB  
Article
A Novel Chymotrypsin-like Protease from Trichoderma koningii FFT13 with Efficient Milk-Clotting Activity
by Jéssica Alves Nunes, Andreza Heloiza da Silva Gonçalves, Jeniffer Mclaine Duarte de Freitas, Josiel Santos do Nascimento, Luciano Aparecido Meireles Grillo, Melissa Fontes Landell and Hugo Juarez Vieira Pereira
Foods 2026, 15(11), 1940; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15111940 - 1 Jun 2026
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Abstract
Proteases, enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of peptide bonds in peptides and proteins, have widespread industrial applications, particularly in milk coagulation for cheese production. Microbial enzymes have been employed as alternatives to animal rennet, offering advantages such as cost-effectiveness, availability, and compliance with [...] Read more.
Proteases, enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of peptide bonds in peptides and proteins, have widespread industrial applications, particularly in milk coagulation for cheese production. Microbial enzymes have been employed as alternatives to animal rennet, offering advantages such as cost-effectiveness, availability, and compliance with dietary, cultural, and religious requirements. Solid-state fermentation (SSF) is widely employed for microbial enzyme production because of its low operational costs, reduced water and energy requirements, high product concentrations, and the ability to utilize agro-industrial residues as low-cost substrates, thereby contributing to both process sustainability and waste valorization. We report the production and characterization of a novel milk-clotting protease produced by Trichoderma koningii FFT13. The protease was produced by SSF using wheat bran as the substrate, an agro-industrial residue. It was classified as a chymotrypsin-like serine protease and exhibited a specific caseinolytic activity of 9861 U/mg. The enzyme coagulated both reconstituted skim milk and pasteurized whole milk in the presence or absence of calcium. Coagulation was enhanced by increasing temperature, reaction time, enzyme concentration, and calcium levels. Scanning electron microscopy revealed destabilization of casein micelles, their progressive aggregation, and the formation of a well-defined gel network, confirming the effectiveness of the protease in milk coagulation. Therefore, these results demonstrate that the chymotrypsin-like protease from T. koningii is a promising enzyme for milk coagulation, with potential application in cheese production. The enzyme obtained constitutes an alternative to traditional coagulants, overcoming limitations related to animal rennet while potentially offering additional advantages in terms of process sustainability and industrial scalability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Enzyme Engineering Techniques in Foods)
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