We isolated a fungal strain HS-1 utilizing either ethylene glycol dibenzoate or ethyl benzoate as sole source of carbon and energy, and identified it as Aspergillus nomius, based on morphological and rDNA analyses. An enzyme hydrolyzing the esters was purified from the culture supernatant of the strain to an electrophoretically homogeneous state. The enzyme was a carboxyl esterase with a monomeric structure, of which the molecular mass was about 60000, and inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. The enzyme hydrolyzed various benzoate esters and p-nitrophenyl esters, and its hydrolysis rates for the most favorable substrates, n-butyl benzoate and p-nitrophenyl valerate, were comparable.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.