Question

Your digestive system is equipped with a diversity of enzymes that

break the polymers in your food down to monomers that your cells can
assimilate. A generic name for a digestive enzyme is hydrolase. What is
the chemical basis for that name?

Answer 1

Enzymes are named according to the reaction they catalyze. Polymers are made of subunits joined together by different types of bonds, forming a macromolecule.

Hydrolases are used by the organism to catalyze the hydrolysis of polymers so they can be easily manipulated as monomers. Hydrolysis means reacting with water, water can break the bonds of different polymers turning it into its constitutive monomers.