Plant latex lipases: physiological role and applications

Lipases are natural catalysts widely employed to structure various lipids, fats and oils in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries. Despite their high potential in lipid biotechnology, current application of microbial lipases has been limited owing to high costs and limited availability. During the last two decades, research efforts have been directed towards the identification of low cost and GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) lipases sources. Plant lipases from species with oil seeds have been widely studied, though their application has turned out to be disappointing, due to low activity and transient expression during seed germination. In the early nineties, research into in non seed tissues showed high lipolytic activity in the latex of some species of Caricaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Asclepiadaceae. At the moment, crude dried latex from Carica papaya is the most studied biocatalyst in lipid synthesis and modification, but little is known about the physiological role of C. papaya lipase or the applications of other latex lipases. In this paper we report more than ten years of research into the characterisation of plant-latex lipases roles and applications.