Neutral and alkaline cellulases: Production, engineering, and applications

Neutral and alkaline cellulases from microorganisms constitute a major group of the industrial enzymes and find applications in various industries. Screening is the important ways to get novel cellulases. Most fungal cellulases have acidic pH optima, except some fungi like Humicola insolens species. However, new applications require the use of neutral and alkaline cellulases in food, brewery and wine, animal feed, textile and laundry, pulp and paper industries, agriculture as well in scientific research purposes. Indeed, the demand for these enzymes is growing more rapidly than ever before, and becomes the driving force for research on engineering the cellulolytic enzymes. Here, we present an overview of the biotechnological research for neutral and alkaline cellulases.