Enzymatic synthesis and modification of structured phospholipids: recent advances in enzyme preparation and biocatalytic processes.

Phospholipids (PLs) containing specific polar head groups and fatty acids, artificially synthesized from a complex mixture of natural PLs, have considerable industrial applications. The biocatalytic approaches to synthesizing structured PLs are of great interest because the enzymes used show high selectivity and performance under mild conditions, leading to the generation of products that cannot easily be obtained by chemical catalysis. Although the limited supply of phospholipases (e.g., phospholipase D) has thus far been an obstacle to the widespread use of enzymatic processing, recent advances in enzyme preparation have opened up various applications for PL modification. In this review, attempts to increase the productivity and utility of microbial phospholipases and lipases are presented. We also summarize recent developments in enzyme-catalyzed modification of PLs, focusing particularly on the relevant reactions, bioreactor design, and novel proof-of-concept experiments.