Alginate Lyases: Substrates, Structure, Properties, and Prospects of Application

Abstract

Alginate lyases catalyze degradation of alginic acids and their salts, alginates, which are one of the main components of brown algae cell walls and comprise up to 40% algae’s dry weight. Alginates are interesting due to their high biological activity, particularly the ability of charged groups to bind tightly to oppositecharged protein amino acid residues, and chelating and jelling properties in presence of bivalent metal cations. Alginate lyases can digest substrates by β-elimination. They can be classified by the type of cleaved bonds. For today, more than 50000 amino acid sequences are referred to alginate lyases, 47000 of them belonging to bacterial genomes. Alginate lyases are one of the most common tools for degrading biofilms. Alginate digestion products display antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.