A protease is a member of a very large group of enzymes that have a variety of functions in the body. A primary one is as a digestive enzyme to process protein. Without protease, the body would not be able to digest the protein in food. Other types of proteases are involved in the regulation of cellular events, such as blood clotting. These are also called proteolytic enzymesproteinases. or
Proteins are long chains of amino acids that are held together by peptide bonds. Small fragments of proteins are known as peptides, and larger fragments are referred to as polypeptides. Enzymes that break down peptides are called peptidases.
Proteases are types of proteins that accelerate the degradation of others. They differ in the manner in which they carry out this activity. Exopeptidases cleave off terminal amino acids and nibble away at proteins. They break down peptide bonds to release amino acids. In contrast, endopeptidases act within the protein, and also cleave peptide bonds, producing polypeptides as the result of their activities.