Amidase

In enzymology, an amidase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction


 * a monocarboxylic acid amide + H2O $$\rightleftharpoons$$ a monocarboxylate + NH3

Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are monocarboxylic acid amide and H2O, whereas its two products are monocarboxylate and NH3.

This enzyme belongs to the family of hydrolases, those acting on carbon-nitrogen bonds other than peptide bonds, specifically in linear amides. The systematic name of this enzyme class is acylamide amidohydrolase. Other names in common use include acylamidase, acylase, amidohydrolase, deaminase, fatty acylamidase, and N-acetylaminohydrolase. This enzyme participates in 6 metabolic pathways: urea cycle and metabolism of amino groups, phenylalanine metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, cyanoamino acid metabolism, benzoate degradation via coa ligation, and styrene degradation.

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