What does hydrolase mean?
A hydrolase is an enzyme that uses water to break chemical bonds, a process known as hydrolysis. These enzymes are essential to digestion and metabolism, helping to split proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other molecules into smaller components that cells can use. Hydrolases also occur widely in bacteria, fungi, plants and animals, and some have important roles in industry, medicine and environmental science. The name combines a reference to water with the enzyme suffix “-ase.” Although the term may sound specialized, the concept is closely related to familiar digestive processes: many familiar digestive enzymes are hydrolases, each specialized for breaking a particular kind of chemical bond.
nounA hydrolase is an enzyme that catalyses hydrolysis, the chemical breakdown of a molecule by reaction with water. Hydrolases act on many types of chemical bonds, including those in proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
- An enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of a substrate, thereby breaking a chemical bond through reaction with water.
"The liver produced unusually high levels of a hydrolase that helped break down the toxin."
"Digestive enzymes include several hydrolases that break proteins, lipids and carbohydrates into smaller molecules."
"Researchers identified a bacterial hydrolase capable of degrading a pollutant in contaminated soil."
The plural is used when referring to multiple enzymes of this class.
"These hydrolases are produced by bacteria living in the soil."
Without hydrolases, many of the body's essential chemical reactions would stall: these enzymes use water to cut apart molecules with remarkable precision.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does hydrolase come from?
The word combines a form associated with the Greek hydōr, meaning “water,” with the suffix -ase, used in biochemical names for enzymes. The underlying idea is hydrolysis, the breaking of a chemical bond through reaction with water. The suffix -ase itself ultimately derives from French, in which ase was adapted from Greek bases, meaning “base.”
Related word forms
How hydrolase is actually used
The term is primarily technical and is common in biochemistry, enzymology, molecular biology and environmental science. It normally names a class of enzymes rather than one particular enzyme.
Easily confused with hydrolase
A hydrolase is the enzyme that causes hydrolysis, whereas hydrolysis is the water-mediated chemical reaction itself.