Purifying Cold-Active Amylase via Two-Column Chromatography

A joint study conducted by researchers at Assiut University, Badr University in Cairo (BUC), and Egyptian Russian University (all in Egypt) considered turning potato peel waste into a cold-loving enzyme called amylase by fermenting it with a fungus called Penicillium goetzii AUMC 498. Using a smart optimization method called Box-Behnken, they found that pH, incubation time, and beef extract amount were the main things to tweak. The best result was 4.21 units of activity per gram of dry material at pH 7 and 10 °C after just six days. The team cleaned up the enzyme using two-column chromatography, which made it 63.6 times purer. A paper based on this work was published in Microbial Cell Factories.¹

Why Are Cold-Adapted Enzymes Becoming Popular for Energy-Saving Industries?

Cold-loving enzymes can speed up reactions even in chilly conditions, which makes them useful for industries that prefer gentle, low-heat processing. They help save energy, cut costs, and protect delicate materials from heat damage, which are major advantages for big-scale operations.^2,3 This is a major reason for their catching on in food production, laundry detergents, textiles, starch processing, and eco-friendly biotech. Overall, these cold-adapted amylases are great for building more sustainable and energy-efficient industrial methods.^2-5 Even though cold-loving enzymes are drawing more attention from industry for their ability to run energy-saving, low-heat processes, research on cold-adapted amylases is still pretty limited compared to enzymes that work best at moderate or high temperatures.⁶

What are the Characteristics and Industrial Potential of an Enzyme Derived from Potato Peel Waste?

The researchers report that the cleaned-up enzyme worked best at a mildly acidic pH of 5 and a temperature of 25 °C, showing the highest activity with sorghum starch at roughly 595 units per milligram. Manganese and zinc sulfates boosted its performance, while nickel chloride, SDS, and EDTA held it back. They tested how strongly it bound to six different starches (soluble, sorghum, oat, maize, wheat, and rice, with rice starch binding the tightest and soluble starch the loosest). Overall, this shows potato peel waste can be turned into a handy, cold-friendly enzyme that performs well and holds up nicely.¹

“The ability of the enzyme to function efficiently at low temperatures,” write the authors of the paper,¹ “highlights its strong potential for use in energy-efficient industrial processes, particularly in the food, detergent, textile, and starch-processing industries.”

The researchers think using potato peel waste for fermentation tackles two big issues: the environmental mess from tossing out farm and factory waste, and the steep price of making enzymes. By turning a waste problem into something useful, this approach offers a practical, affordable way to produce eco-friendly biotech products at scale. They believe future work should focus on scaling up the process, finding ways to reuse the enzymes, and tweaking the molecules to boost performance and keep them stable even in cooler conditions.¹

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References

1. Sakr, R. S.; Moharram, A. M.; Yassa, H. A. et al. Utilization of Potato Peels Waste for Production, Purification, and Characterization of Cold-Adapted Amylase Under Solid State Fermentation by Penicillium goetzii AUMC 498. Microb Cell Fact. 2026.DOI: 10.1186/s12934-026-03021-x
2. Liu, Y.; Jia, K.; Chen, H. et al. Cold-Adapted Enzymes: Mechanisms, Engineering and Biotechnological Application. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng. 2023, 46 (10), 1399-1410. DOI: DOI: 10.1007/s00449-023-02904-2
3. Liu, Y.; Zhang, N.; Ma, J. et al. Advances in Cold-Adapted Enzymes Derived from Microorganisms. Front Microbiol. 2023, 14, 1152847. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1152847
4. Kuddus, M. Cold-Active Microbial Enzymes. Biochem Physiol. 2015, 4, e132. DOI: 10.4172/2168-9652.1000e132
5. Kuddus, M. Enzymes in Food Biotechnology. Prod Appl Future Prospects 2019. DOI: 10.1016/C2016-0-04555-2
6. Qian, Y. F.; Yu, J. Y.; Xie, J. et al. A Mini-Review on Cold-Adapted Enzymes from Psychrotrophic Microorganisms in Foods: Benefits and Challenges. Curr Res Biotechnol. 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.crbiot.2023.100162