Promiscuous proteins: The identification and characterization of a wild-type promiscuous hydrolase that efficiently catalyzes the hydrolysis of ester bonds and haloacids in a single protein has been reported. This study has demonstrated the utility of metagenomics to access novel catalytic activities. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as "Supporting Information". Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.