Patent 7091023 was granted and assigned to Novozymes A/S on August, 2006 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An esterase isolated from Aspergillus oryzae is capable of stereoselective hydrolysis of chiral esters and also has arylesterase activity (EC 3.1.1.2) and feruloyl esterase activity (EC 3.1.1.73). The esterase has only a limited homology to known amino acid sequences.