Yeast As a Potential Candidate for Tannase Production: A Review

Tannin acyl hydrolase (E.C.3.1.1.20) is also known as tannase, which hydrolyses ester and depside bonds of tannins to produce gallic acid, glucose, and galloyl esters. It is an inducible enzyme which has wide applications in pharmaceuticals, food, beverage industries, and also potentially used in the treatment of tannery effluents. A lot of emphasis has been paid on the production aspects of tannase from different sources, the major sources for tannase are considered to be fungi and bacteria. Recently, much attention has been paid on the production of these enzymes from yeast sources by conventional and molecular biology approach, because of its shorter generation time and convenience towards molecular genetics. Yeast tannase also finds wide application, because of its similarity with that of tannase from mycelial fungi. This study reviews the yeast sources, modes of production, different molecular approaches used and possible applications of these yeast sources as a potential candidate for tannase production.