Debashrita Majumder, Subrata Dash, Debasmita Bhattacharya, Harjot Singh Gill, Vaseem Raja, Juwita Ratna Dewi, Arpita Roy, Mithul Rajeev, Soumya Pandit, Shubham Sharma, Shashi Prakash Dwivedi, Moupriya Nag, Dibyajit Lahiri
Lipases are versatile enzymes with widespread industrial applications, including detergents, food processing, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and environmental cleanup. Their ability to catalyze both hydrolytic and synthetic reactions under diverse conditions underpins their biotechnological significance. Native lipases, however, exhibit limitations such as low stability, narrow substrate spectrum, and low production yields, which limit their large-scale application. Emerging developments in genetic and protein engineering have enabled accurate modulation of enzyme properties and expression systems, offering potential solutions to overcome these challenges. This review presents an integrated view of existing strategies for designing high-performance lipases for industrial applications. It summarizes advancements from metagenomic discovery and gene optimization to expression optimization through codon improvement, promoter adjustment, signal peptide design, and chaperone-mediated folding. Protein engineering strategies, including rational design, directed evolution, and domain recombination; are addressed to enhance catalytic activity, selectivity, and thermostability. Concomitantly, breakthroughs in fermentation optimization, host metabolism engineering, and enzyme immobilization have enhanced the scalability and operational robustness of lipase manufacturing. Novel omics-driven and systems biology platforms now facilitate the rational design of microbial hosts optimized for efficient enzyme biosynthesis. Collectively, these advances outline a coherent blueprint for engineering lipases into strong, industrially applicable biocatalysts. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026.
Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata, University of Engineering and Management, West Bengal, Kolkata, India; Department of Basic Science and Humanities, Institute of Engineering and Management, Salt Lake, University of Engineering and Management, Kolkata, India; Institute of Engineering and e-governance, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Mohali, India; Department of Biotechnology, University Centre for Research and Development, Chandigarh University Gharuan, Punjab, Mohali, 140413, India; Postgraduate School, Environmental Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya, Veteran St, East Java, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Research and Development Cell, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, 144411, India; Center for Global Health Research, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital Saveetha, Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), Tamil Nadu, Chennai, 602105, India; Department of Life Sciences, School of Biosciences and Technology, Sharda University, Noida, India; Centre of Research Impact and Outcome, Chitkara University, Punjab, Rajpura, 140417, India; Lloyd Institute of Engineering & Technology, Plot No. 3, Knowledge Park II, Uttar Pradesh, Greater Noida, 201306, India
