Methylotrophic bacteria, isolated from soil samples or from sewage sludge, proved to be useful sources of esterases for catalyzing the enantioselective hydrolysis of racemic N-acetyl- indoline-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester (7) to the corresponding (25) or (2 R)-N-acetyl amino acid (6) with high optical yields. From the DMF-utilizer Pseudomonas DMF 5/8 and the methanol-utilizer Isolate EE 210, the corresponding esterases were isolated. Reactions ...