Chemical Characterization and Functional Studies of Enzymes from Food

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 April 2026 | Viewed by 58

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Resources, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
2. Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Interests: protein engineering; enzyme engineering; multienzyme cascade reaction; synthesis of food and pharmaceutical by biocatalysis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Enzymes derived from food and related biological systems play an increasingly vital role in the global food industry, contributing to food processing, quality improvement, preservation, and nutritional enhancement. Understanding their chemical properties—such as their structure, kinetics, stability, and catalytic mechanisms—is essential for leveraging their full potential in applications ranging from biocatalysis to functional food design.

This Special Issue will gather high-quality research and review articles focusing on the isolation, purification, characterization, and functional analysis of food-related enzymes. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, enzyme structure–function relationships, novel enzyme discovery, modification strategies for improved performance, and applications in food processing and safety.

We welcome contributions that explore advanced analytical techniques, computational approaches, enzyme mining and engineering, and practical implementations for deepening our understanding of food enzymes. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing cutting-edge discoveries and promoting innovation in enzyme technology for sustainable and health-focused food solutions.

Prof. Dr. Ruizhi Han
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • food enzymes
  • functional characterization
  • protein engineering
  • biocatalysis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 27930 KB  
Article
Rational Design and One-Step Immobilization of Chitosanase for Specific and Recyclable Chitobiose Production
by Dandan Tang, Jie Zhang, Na Li, Rui Long, Xinyu Wang, Xiaowen Wang and Wei Liu
Foods 2025, 14(24), 4248; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14244248 (registering DOI) - 10 Dec 2025
Abstract
Chitosan oligosaccharides (COSs) with defined degrees of polymerization (DP) exhibit distinct bioactivities with promising applications in food, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries. However, the specific and sustainable production of COSs remains challenging due to the broad product distribution of wild-type chitosanases and the difficulties [...] Read more.
Chitosan oligosaccharides (COSs) with defined degrees of polymerization (DP) exhibit distinct bioactivities with promising applications in food, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries. However, the specific and sustainable production of COSs remains challenging due to the broad product distribution of wild-type chitosanases and the difficulties in enzyme recovery and reuse. In this study, we employed rational design to engineer a GH46 chitosanase (CsnB) from Bacillus sp. BY01 for chitobiose production. Through homology modeling and molecular docking analysis, 15 mutants were designed by targeting key residues structurally critical for substrate stabilization, product release, and active-site geometry in the substrate-binding subsites. The D78Y mutant exhibited exclusive specificity for chitobiose, demonstrating a specific activity of 102.4 U/mg and yielding chitobiose with a purity exceeding 98%, thereby surpassing the previously reported enzymes for chitobiose production. To address the challenges of enzyme stability, purification costs, and product separation, we developed a ReELP system by integrating elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) with a ReverseCatcher/ReverseTag peptide pair. This system enabled one-step purification and co-immobilization of CsnB-D78Y directly from cell lysate onto biomimetic silica nanoparticles, achieving 96.8% immobilization efficiency and 90.7% activity recovery. The immobilized enzyme exhibited enhanced thermal and pH stability, retaining approximately 50% activity after 12 h at 40 °C compared to only 5.7% for the free enzyme. In reusability assays, the immobilized CsnB-D78Y maintained efficient chitobiose production over 5 consecutive cycles. This work provides a green and cost-effective strategy for the specific and sustainable production of chitobiose, offering new insights into enzyme engineering and immobilization for industrial COS production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Characterization and Functional Studies of Enzymes from Food)
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