Advances in Microbial Enzyme Production

Microbially produced enzymes are central to industrial microbiology and modern biomanufacturing, enabling more efficient and sustainable processes in the production of foods and feeds, detergents, cosmetics, textiles, pulp and paper, biofuels, and fine and specialty chemicals. There are also advances in utilizing enzymes to synthesize a wide range of nanomaterials. Bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi remain the main production hosts, thanks to their fast growth, genetic accessibility, and compatibility with industrial fermentation. In recent years, advances in microbial genetics, systems and synthetic biology, and bioprocess engineering have accelerated progress in enzyme expression and secretion, improved strain robustness, and expanded the range of enzymes that can be produced at scale.Despite these developments, enzyme manufacturing still faces key limitations, including bottlenecks in secretion and folding, proteolytic degradation, metabolic burden, oxygen transfer, and rheology constraints (particularly in filamentous systems), variability during scale-up, and challenges in maintaining consistent quality attributes across runs. Addressing these issues requires integrated approaches that connect microbial physiology and strain design with fermentation strategies, monitoring and control, and downstream processing choices.GoalThis Research Topic aims to gather cutting-edge research and authoritative reviews that advance microbial enzyme production from strain development to scalable manufacturing. The collection will showcase approaches that improve enzyme titer, yield, productivity, and robustness, while strengthening process reproducibility and supporting more sustainable industrial bioprocesses. By bringing together work across microbial genetics, fermentation science, and industrial process development, the Research Topic will serve as a forward-looking reference for the industrial microbiology community.ScopeWe welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics: • Microbial production hosts for enzymes (bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi) and chassis selection • Strain engineering for improved expression, secretion, folding, and stability (including protease reduction and stress tolerance) • Regulation of enzyme production: promoters, gene dosage, expression circuits, and host physiology • Fermentation and bioprocess optimization for enzyme production (media design, feeding strategies, induction strategies, batch/fed-batch/continuous cultivation) • Process monitoring, analytics, and control strategies relevant to enzyme manufacturing (including PAT and soft sensors) • Scale-up, process intensification, and reproducibility challenges in industrial enzyme fermentation • Downstream processing and formulation of enzymes (recovery, purification, stabilization) and quality considerations • Sustainable enzyme biomanufacturing: use of low-cost feedstocks, side streams, and waste-derived substrates; process efficiency and environmental considerations • The involvement of enzymes in circular bioeconomy • Case studies linking strain design to manufacturing outcomes and/or techno-economic implications Topic editors: Agbaje Lateef, Hichem Tahraoui, John Masani Nduko, Sunitha Rani Routhu Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77983/advances-in-microbial-enzyme-production