The marine ecosystem has been known to be a significant source of novel enzymes. Esterase enzymes (EC 3.1.1.1) represent a diverse group of hydrolases that catalyze the cleavage and formation of ester bonds. Although esterases are widely distributed among marine organisms, only microbial esterases are of paramount industrial importance. This article discusses the importance of marine microbial esterases, their biochemical and kinetic properties, and their stability under extreme conditions. Since culture-dependent techniques provide limited insights into microbial diversity of the marine ecosystem, therefore, genomics and metagenomics approaches have widely been adopted in search of novel esterases. Additionally, the article also explains industrial applications of marine bacterial esterases particularly for the synthesis of optically pure substances, the preparation of enantiomerically pure drugs, the degradation of human-made plastics and organophosphorus compounds, degradation of the lipophilic components of the ink, and production of short-chain flavor esters.

众所周知，海洋生态系统是新型酶的重要来源。酯酶（EC 3.1.1.1）代表了多种水解酶，可催化酯键的裂解和形成。尽管酯酶在海洋生物中广泛分布，但只有微生物酯酶才是最重要的工业重要性。本文讨论了海洋微生物酯酶的重要性，其生化和动力学特性以及在极端条件下的稳定性。由于依赖于文化的技术对海洋生态系统微生物多样性的了解有限，因此，基因组学和宏基因组学方法已广泛用于寻找新型酯酶。另外，