Comparative study of commercially available lipases in hydrolysis reaction of phosphatidylcholine

Nineteen commercial lipase preparations were compared with respect to their ability to hydrolyze phosphatidylcholine (PC) in a reverse micellar system. In terms of the source organism, lipases from Mucor or Rhizopus species showed comparatively high reactivity, while those from Aspergillus and Humicola sp. exhibited little PC hydrolysis activity. Almost no hydrolysis reaction was observed by positionally nonspecific lipases derived from Candida sp. The results suggest that particular attention should be paid to the source organism in selecting lipases for use in the enzymatic conversion of phospholipids.