Isolation of Fungal Cutinases and their Molecular Properties

Isolation of Fungal Cutinases and their Molecular Properties 

When polyester-hydrolyzing activity was isolated using synthetic polyesters such as polycaprolactone, and the enzyme was examined in detail, it was foimd that it was a cutinase that was responsible for the hydrolysis [113]. Similarly, the polyester domains of suberin were found to be degraded by cutinase. Cutinase is a polyesterase, and similar enzymes may be widely distributed and can degrade a variety of natural and synthetic polyesters. Microbial polyhydroxy-alkanoic acids that are attracting increasing attention as biodegradable polyesters can be hydrolyzed by bacterial polyesterases that share some common features with cutinases [114] and this area is covered in another chapter [115]. 

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