Which statement about protease is accurate?

• A. It breaks down fats into fatty acids
• B. It breaks down proteins into amino acids
• C. It synthesizes proteins
• D. It breaks down carbohydrates into sugars

Answer: (B)

Proteases are enzymes that hydrolyze peptide bonds in proteins, breaking them down into amino acids and small peptides. This is how proteins are digested to become absorbable units for the body. The other options describe enzymes with different roles: lipases break fats into fatty acids, amylases break carbohydrates into sugars, and protein synthesis is carried out by ribosomes during translation rather than by a protease. In digestion, proteases like pepsin in the stomach and trypsin/chymotrypsin in the intestine do the actual breaking of proteins into amino acids.