Carboxylesterases: Sources, Characterization and Broader Applications

Carboxylesterases (CEs) are a group of versatile lipolytic enzymes capable of catalyzing the hydrolysis of esters into acid and alcohol molecules. These enzymes are extensively used in diverse xenobiotic and endobiotic degradations, biocatalysis, and drug metabolism. The present review article focuses on structure, function and major applications of CEs mainly sourced from bacteria and archaea. The CEs are divided in different families (15 families) depending upon their source, biochemical properties, common pentapeptide motif (GXSXG) with catalytic Ser, an entirely different GDSL motif, (family II)/ SXXK motif (family VIII), position of catalytic triad and their protein forms. CEs find diverse applications in degradation of xenobiotic compounds, biocatalysis, biotransformation of compounds such as cholesterol, synthesis of optically active compounds, food industry, anticancer therapeutics, drug and prodrugs like aspirin, delapril etc.

Author(s): Samta Sood,  Abhishek Sharma, Nikhil Sharma and Shamsher Singh Kanwar

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