Phytase is an enzyme who is consider to be only working on difficultly hydrolysable organic P compound like phytin. Phosphatases ( both acid and alkaline) also hydrolysing different organic P compounds including phytin (althogh to a laser extent). As the estimation procedure of phosphatases and phytase are completely different, it is very difficult to compare between the activities. Therefore, whether we should consider the phytase only a group of phosphatases?
Enzymes can be classified in various ways. The EC number scheme is based upon the reaction that the enzyme catalyzes. In the case of phytases, the EC number is 3.1.3.n, which represents Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases. There are 5 phytases according to this scheme, which can be seen here: http://brenda-enzymes.org/search_result.php?quicksearch=1&noOfResults=10&a=9&W[2]=phytase&T[2]=2. Here you can see a list of 100 enzymes sharing EC number 3.1.3.n: http://enzyme.expasy.org/cgi-bin/enzyme/enzyme-search-ec
You could also classify the phytase enzymes phylogenetically based upon their relatedness to other proteins, or you could classify them based on their 3-D folds, or on their chemical mechanisms.
If you found that phytases differed from all other phosphoric monoester hydrolases based on one or more of the above classifications, you might be justified in considering them as one or more separate groups from the other enzymes.
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