Nazarian_2022_Process.Biochem_121_439

Esterases represent a class of hydrolases, and are widely distributed in animals, plants and microorganisms. Depending on whether they hydrolyze small water-soluble esters or ester bonds of long-chain acylglycerols, they are classified as carboxylesterases (EC 3.1.1.1) or lipases (EC 3.1.1.3). A host of novel microbial carboxylesterases from culture-independent methods have been also discovered and overexpressed within the last few years. Indeed, genome mining has emerged as an inexpensive and readily available bioinformatics technique to unveil novel enzymes and natural products, based on the homologies of pre-identified genomic information, without the limitations associated with traditional culturing techniques. This review aims to give an overview of the recently discovered carboxylesterases via genome mining, their structural features, and reaction mechanism with specific emphasis on their roles in chemical kinetic resolution of compounds with pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications.