ESTERASE AND PRODUCTION THEREOF

NEW MATERIAL:The enzyme having the following characteristics: 1. action: hydrolyzes the ester linkage in organic carboxylic esters 2. substrate specificity: acts on the alcohol esters and thiol esters of organic carboxylic acids, giving high activity on water-soluble short chain fatty acid esters, butylyl CoA, etc., but being inactive on water-insoluble long chain fatty acid ester, acetyl CoA, etc. 3. molecular weight: 43,000+ or -1,000 (determined by the SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis technique) 4. amino acid sequence: having sequence from the amino terminal to the thirtieth amino acid, of the formula. USE:For production of optically active compounds, creation of chiral compounds from prochiral compounds, etc. PREPARATION:A culture of bacteria capable of producing said enzyme, belonging to Arthrobacter group [pref. Arthrobacter globiformis (IFO-12958)] is made, and the objective enzyme (esterase) is collected from the resulting product.