Recent Trends of Polymer-Protein Conjugate Application in Biocatalysis: A Review

Proteins, particularly enzymes, are often used in bioreactors to catalyze biosynthetic reactions. However, one of the major challenges in applying proteins in bioreactors is enzyme stability and recovery. This review is an enlightening discussion on recent trends and advancements used to alleviate these limitations completely or to minimize them. Two major strategies, polymer-based enzyme immobilization and polymeric enzyme nanoreactors have been discussed systematically. Further, this review puts light on various methods such as smart polymer-based supports which have been exploited for their ability to regulate ligand-protein interactions. In addition, chemical moieties like protein-based microcrystals, cross-linked enzyme aggregates, and polymer-based nanoreactors have also been discussed in a comprehensive way focusing more on their unique applicability and target-specific actions. Polymer-based nanoreactors are described in detail in vivo together with enhancement of the enzyme stability and controlled function based on the compartmentalization of enzymes. Among the two novel nanoreactor approaches, dendrimers have been exploited as multifunctional enzymatic carriers, while capsomes are designed to regulate poly-enzymatic reactions through intravesicular compartmentalization of a multitude of enzymatic reactions.