Molecular recognition of esterase plays a major role on the removal of fatty soils during detergency.

In this work it is describe for the first time, the use of an esterase with null activity (Tfu_0883 bacterial cutinase from Thermobifida fusca) on the removal of fat from the surface of a cotton substrate. Similar levels of fat removal were found for both null and wild-type proteins, despite that only wild type protein yielded fatty acids. Our results show that molecular recognition of esterase plays a major role on the removal of fatty soils, allowing important guidelines for the design of detergent enzymes. Furthermore, the advantage of using null esterase enzymes lies in the avoidance of the rancid smell of short chained fatty acids, typical after esterase treatment.