Methyl acetate hydrolase, known also as methylacetate acetohydrolase is a hydrolase enzyme that uses water to carry out the hydrolysis of methyl acetate (CH3COOCH3), a weakly lipophillic and polar compound often used as a solvent. In the species Gordonia sp. (strain TY-5), the enzyme is encoded by gene acMB. The enzyme catalyzes the following reaction, methyl acetate + water = methanol + acetic acid The enzyme is involved in two major pathways, the butanoate metabolism pathway and the catabolic degradation pathway of propanol. References