Have the uses of enzyme technology in industry and medicine been of benefit to society?

Enzyme’s are used all round the world all the time and are have huge potential in the commercial world. In this essay, I am going to look at two sides of the argument for which if enzyme technology is beneficial to our society through medicine and industry.

(1) Industrial uses of enzymes include using enzymes for the confectionery market. Traditionally sucrose was used to produce the sweetness of soft drinks or in artificial sweeteners, now a high fructose syrup is used which is created from enzymes. Fructose is used, as it is cheap and sweeter than sucrose. The four enzymes used to produce this syrup are bacteria alpha – amylase, fungal amyloglucosidase, pullulanse, and bacterial glucose isomerase. The glucose isomerase is used to convert the originally glucose into a mixture of fructose and glucose.

Enzymes are quite common in the textile industry. (7) Enzymes have replaced the stones in the stone wash effect. Also enzymes were used as a reducing agent. Hydrogen peroxide was used in place of bleach in natural fabrics. Catalyse is needed to break down the hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water.

(4) In the leather industry the use of proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes are some of the most common enzymes used to make leather. Animal skin is a raw material; the enzymes remove the unwanted parts. (1) Trypsin is also used to “remove hair and excess from hides and skin to make the leather more pliable” (table 7.1 Industrial uses of enzyme technology- Pg. 115). (4) Enzymes are used to assist the alkaline chemical process, which improves the quality of leather, as it is more environmentally friendly. Lipases are also used to remove the grease of the leather.

(2) Fruit juice industry producing non-citric fruit juice enzymes are used to produce clear juice but also are used it citric fruits to produce a cloudy fruit juice. Pectinases are used widely across the world in the production of fruit and vegetable juices. The pectinases are classified into three groups: Pectine methylesterases, Depolymerases which attach the branches of the pectin chain which are found in the structure of the fruit or vegetable as they are water soluble it releases the juice of the fruit. The finally there is the Exoenzymes, which release the acid out of citrus fruits to ...

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Medical uses of enzymes include aiding digestion, analytic tests and used in enzyme replacement therapy. (2) Enzymes can be used to help aid digestion in both animals and humans. The pancreas produces lipase, protease and natural amylase; these are supplemented by the enzymes in humans to help digestion. A condition called lactose intolerance is a condition, which some people have which means they cannot ingest milk or any dairy products; this is because they lose the enzyme called lactase. This enzyme can be given to the patient to help avoid stomach upsets. (3) Enzymes in the pancreas can also be dangerous for humans; one such disease is pancreatitis, which is the inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas produces digestive enzymes in the epithial cells. When in the pancreas they are inactive to prevent the enzymes actually digesting the pancreas cells. Patients with pancreatitis cause these enzymes to become active, so these two-protein digesting enzymes break down the cells, which destructs the pancreas.

(2) Enzymes are used for Analytical tests, maybe to test for HIV or a diabetic uses this method to test their sugar levels. (3) These enzymes give accurate and rapid measurement. They are highly specific and highly sensitive. They are highly specific in the reactions they catalyse, and they can be used to identify a molecule in a mixture. Highly sensitive, as they enable to detect a molecule in a low concentration mixture. (2) Diabetics use a drop of their blood and add it to a trip of paper, which is impregnated with glucose oxidase. When the blood is added the “glucose oxidase metabolises the glucose and a series of reactions occurs” this produces a change in colour of the paper. This is measured to show the amount of glucose present in the blood.

(6) In cells there are enzymes stored in the lysosomes these enzymes break down large molecules. Macromolecules are built to be recycled. The enzymes are kept in the lysosomes to prevent them from digesting the rest of the cell. If the enzymes were not in the cell then the macromolecules would accumilate and produce a ‘storage disease’. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is a treatment for lysosomal disorders. Large amounts of enzyme were made by introducing the human gene into the culture of hamster ovary cells. With these enzymes, the liver and spleen become smaller so the bones and bone marrow are protect from the disease by the improvement of the blood count. ERT is a strong treatment but these disorders do have other affects i.e. brain seizures, which cannot be helped by this treatment.

Enzymes are a great benefit to society especially from the medical side as if some of these enzymes were not used and created then some people may not be able to have the life they have now due to the magic worked by them to save their life. Ethical issues may be raised in the medical side of this as some people do not agree with using chemical enzymes to rebuild a life, but I feel that they are a real benefit. Everyone should have his or her chance to live a normal life. (5) Enzymes do not pose any threat to the environment, as they are biodegradable. Most enzymes are organic so therefore composed of mainly carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. The issues if environment are very important when using enzymes but the environment does benefit from them in the sense that they can replace harmful chemicals like acids or alkali’s. There are enzymes, which are used, in animal feed which I have not outlined about in my essay but they benefit the environment as they allow more complete digestion. This then leads to fewer animals waste. (7) The main environmental benefits of enzymes is their ability to work at mild conditions and low temperatures. This then saves energy and reduces pollution. The break down products of enzymes, amino acids, are non-toxic.