Diverse Support Activator(s) Result Well-Valued Heterogeneous Pepsins’ Products for Versatile Applications: A Review

An essential aspartic protease with many unique characteristics, the enzymes of the pepsin family are involved in several industrial applications, including collagen extraction, cheese production, fish silage making, and fish processing, particularly in fish waste management for the production of animal feed, biodiesel, natural pigments, food products, and pharmaceuticals, as well as in medical research. Pepsins actively play a crucial role in protein digestion in the gastric phase, resulting in a product of great-value nutrients. Considering the diverse difficulties associated with soluble enzymes, including their separation and long-term storage for recycling and reuse, well-valued heterogeneous preparations using different support activators have been introduced from the 1950s to the present day. In this review, we have summarized their applicabilities with meticulous caveats in the state of the art, including a brief overview of the chemical identity related to the composition and the mechanistic pathway in substrate decomposition of the pepsin family.