Keywords |
  • Biology

Hydrolase

A hydrolase is an enzyme which can break covalent bonds.

Structure of hydrolases

Like all enzymes, hydrolases are proteins which have an active site for the enzyme reaction and a target molecule recognition site which gives the reaction its specificity.

Function of hydrolases

There are many types of hydrolases depending on the type of covalent bond which they hydrolyse. They all use one molecule of water in their reaction and generally carry the name of the substrate:

They are therefore involved in a large number of physiological and cellular processes contributing both to digestion and regulating gene expression.

A hydrolase can cleave covalent bonds using a molecule of water. © DR

A hydrolase can cleave covalent bonds using a molecule of water. © DR


Latest

Fill out my online form.