====== Protease ======
A **protease** (less commonly **peptidase** or **proteinase**) is an [[enzyme]] that catalyzes the breakdown of [[amino acids]] chains (generally [[proteins]]) into smaller amino acid chains as part of a process called [[proteolysis]] which would otherwise take decades to thousands of years.

Proteases likely first appeared as simple destructive enzymes in primitive organisms for [[catabolisis]]((November 7, 2008 | Carlos Lopez-Otin & Judith Bond | Journal of Biological Chemistry | Proteases: Multifunctional Enzymes in Life and Disease | [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2576539/|doi: 10.1074/jbc.R800035200]])) or to recycle ("digest") amino acids.

===== Types of Proteases =====
  * [[protease:Metalloproteases]] make use of metals (usually [[zinc]]).

===== Protein Interaction =====
The bioavailability of proteases can determine the lifetime of a [[protein]] in an organism.