<P> A phosphatase is an enzyme that uses water to cleave a phosphoric acid monoester into a phosphate ion and an alcohol . Because a phosphatase enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of its substrate, it is a subcategory of hydrolases . Phosphatase enzymes are essential to many biological functions, because phosphorylation (e.g. by protein kinases) and dephosphorylation (by phosphatases) serve diverse roles in cellular regulation and signaling . Whereas phosphatases remove phosphate groups from molecules, kinases catalyze the transfer of phosphate groups to molecules from ATP . Together, kinases and phosphatases direct a form of post-translational modification that is essential to the cell's regulatory network . Phosphatase enzymes are not to be confused with phosphorylase enzymes, which catalyze the transfer of a phosphate group from hydrogen phosphate to an acceptor . Due to their prevalence in cellular regulation, phosphatases are an area of interest for pharmaceutical research . </P> <P> Phosphatases catalyze the hydrolysis of a phosphomonoester, removing a phosphate moiety from the substrate . Water is split in the reaction, with the - OH group attaching to the phosphate ion, and the H+ protonating the hydroxyl group of the other product . The net result of the reaction is the destruction of a phosphomonoester and the creation of both a phosphate ion and a molecule with a free hydroxyl group . </P>

The action of a phosphatase enzyme is to
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