Structural and functional role of cellulases

Cellulases are a prominent subclass of hydrolase enzymes characterized by their ability to break down cellulose, a polymer of glucose, and represent one of the most abundant enzymes in nature. The widespread presence of cellulose and its commercial use in textiles, paper, ethanol, and food processing industries explain the underlying commercial importance of the enzymes. Cellulase enzymes have been observed as highly conserved entities across various taxons of life from bacteria and fungi to higher organisms like plants and vertebrates. A large market share and early development of recombinant DNA technology have driven the microbial research and evolution of bioprocess engineering methods for the production of cellulases. The enzymatic activity of cellulases is attributed to its character and conserved domains and catalytic centers, which are characterized by the presence of carbohydrate-binding domains. This chapter focuses on broad aspect spectrum of cellulase diversity across taxon, including their biochemistry, structural, and functional diversity. Moreover the focus has been kept on the industrial applications of the cellulases, various microbial strains, and their roles.