Doctor Scientiae / An esterase and lipase producing Burkholderia multivorans strain was isolated by culture enrichment strategies. A shotgun library of Burkholderia multivorans genomic DNA (prepared in E. coli/pUC18) was screened for lipase and esterase activities. Three positive recombinant clones, pTEND5, pHOLA6 and pRASHI4, conferring esterolytic and lipolytic phenotypes respectively, were identified. Full-length sequencing of DNA inserts was performed using subeloning and "primer-walking" strategies. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the pRASH14 plasmid DNA consisted of two open reading frames (ORPI and ORP2) encoding 356 and 350 amino acids, respectively. Database searches revealed that ORPI and ORP2 were homologous to lipases and chaperones from subfamily I.2. In the pTEND5 sequence, an open reading frame consisting of 978 bp, encoding 326 amino acids, was identified. Database searches revealed that this open reading frame was homologous to family Vesterases. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that pHOLA6, plasmid DNA consisted of 1194 bp encoding 398 amino acids and showed homology to family VIII esterases. The primary structures of LipA, EstEFH5 and EstBL from pRASHI4, pTEND5 and pHOLA6, respectively, showed a classical GxSxG motif, which is conserved in many serine hydrolases. In addition, EstBL also showed a consensus SxxK motif, the serine of which acts as a catalytic nucleophile in class C B-lactames and some peptidases.