Cephalosporin acylases: enzyme production, structure and application in the production of 7-ACA.

Cephalosporin acylases have application in the production of 7-aminocephalosporanic acid which forms a key raw material for the preparation of semisynthetic injectable cephalosporins. The enzymes are of industrial importance and hyperproducing genetically engineered strains have been constructed. Different aspects of these enzymes such as subunit structure, post translational modification, primary structure, substrate specificity and their importance in pharmaceutical industry are discussed.