Proteases are enzymes that hydrolyze which type of bonds?

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Proteases specifically catalyze the hydrolysis of peptide bonds, the amide linkages that hold amino acids together in proteins. Water is added to break that bond, yielding shorter peptides or free amino acids. This is distinct from enzymes that target other bond types: glycosidases break glycosidic bonds in carbohydrates, nucleases cleave phosphodiester bonds in nucleic acids, and esterases or lipases break ester bonds in lipids. Proteases can use different catalytic strategies (like serine, cysteine, aspartate, or metalloprotease mechanisms), but they all share the function of severing the peptide bonds within proteins.