The members of this family are enzymes that cleave peptides. These proteases require zinc for catalysis. Members of this family are also known as adamalysins. Most members of this family are snake venom endopeptidases, but there are also some mammalian proteins such as Swiss:P78325, and fertilin Swiss:Q28472. Fertilin and closely related proteins appear to not have some active site residues and may not be active enzymes.

1: Evolutionary families of metallopeptidases. Rawlings ND, Barrett AJ; Meth Enzymol 1995;248:183-228. PMID:7674922

2: The ADAMs family of metalloproteases: multidomain proteins with multiple functions. Seals DF, Courtneidge SA; Genes Dev 2003;17:7-30. PMID:12514095