Microbial Xylanases: Sources, Types, and Their Applications

Biomass conversion to an utilizable energy sources such as monomer sugars using enzymatic hydrolysis has been emerged as the current technology which promises the future energy. In nature, bioconversion process of biomass is mediated by a group of biofunctional hydrolytic enzymes. These enzymes generally work in cooperative synergetic action to facilitate enhanced effective degradation of biomass. Xylanase is one of the crucial hydrolytic enzymes involved in hydrolysis of xylan, the hemicellulose which constitutes 15–30 % of the plant biomass. This chapter discusses in detail about the enzymatic hydrolysis of xylan by the xylolytic enzyme endo-1,4-β-xylanase, its occurrence in nature and mode of action, structure and classifications, current methods for its production, purification, and characterization. In addition, the major and recent industrial applications of this enzyme were highlighted as well.