Involved in pyrimidine catabolism (PubMed:16540542). May facilitate the hydrolysis of carbamate, a reaction that can also occur spontaneously (Probable). carbamate + 2 H(+) = CO2 + NH4(+) Up-regulated by the nitrogen regulatory protein C (NtrC also called GlnG) and repressed by RutR. Cells lacking this gene form less than the normal amount of malonic semialdehyde because a portion of the 3-carbon intermediate is diverted out of the Rut pathway (PubMed:20400551). It was shown later that defects could be due to polarity of the lesion on one or more of the downstream genes (PubMed:33839153). The Rut pathway degrades exogenous pyrimidines as the sole nitrogen source at room temperature but not at 37 degrees Celsius, a restriction that is apparently a consequence of an inadequate ability to remove toxic malonic semialdehyde at the higher temperature (RutE/YdfG function). Belongs to the AB hydrolase superfamily. Hydrolase RutD family.