- phosphatases (which removes phosphate groups)
- sulfatases
- nucleases (which splits nucleic acids (DNA and RNA))
- glycosylases (which hydrolyze Oxygen- or Sulfur-glycosyl compounds)
-thiolesterases
-those which act on peptide bonds (which in turn splits protein molecules)
-those acting on ester bonds (such as carboxylic esters)
-those acting on ether bonds
-plus many more!
A great deal of the information about enzymes such as these has been made possible because they can be isolated from cells and made to work in a laboratory environment where techniques like X-Ray diffraction can reveal the three-dimensional structure of some enzymes.
A general class of enzymes such as the hydrolases can be better understood through the exploration and comparison of specific enzymes. The three enzymes that we will examine in this site are:
Hydrolases