In biochemistry, hydrolases constitute a class of enzymes that commonly function as biochemical catalysts that use water to break a chemical bond: This typically results in dividing a larger molecule into smaller molecules.
Some common examples of hydrolase enzymes are esterases including lipases, phosphatases, glycosidases, peptidases, and nucleosidases.
[1] Acetic acid is an important metabolite in the body and a critical intermediate for other reactions such as glycolysis.
Glycosidases cleave sugar molecules off carbohydrates and peptidases hydrolyze peptide bonds.
Hydrolases can be further classified into several subclasses, based upon the bonds they act upon: Hydrolase secreted by Lactobacillus jensenii in the human gut stimulates the liver to secrete bile salts that aids in the digestion of food.