Feruloyl esterase

In enzymology, a feruloyl esterase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction


 * feruloyl-polysaccharide + H2O $$\rightleftharpoons$$ ferulate + polysaccharide

Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are feruloyl-polysaccharide and H2O, whereas its two products are ferulate and polysaccharide.

This enzyme belongs to the family of hydrolases, specifically those acting on carboxylic ester bonds. The systematic name of this enzyme class is . Other names in common use include ferulic acid esterase, hydroxycinnamoyl esterase, hemicellulase, accessory enzymes, and FAE-III, cinnamoyl ester hydrolase, FAEA, cinnAE, FAE-I, FAE-II.

Structural studies
As of late 2007, 6 structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes, , , , , and.