Final answer:
Caspases are protease enzymes crucial for apoptosis, with granzyme being an example of a gene that codes for a pro-apoptotic protease involved in this process.
Step-by-step explanation:
Caspases are a family of protease enzymes that play essential roles in apoptosis, which is the programmed cell death. In the context of apoptosis, these proteolytic enzymes are often referred to as executioner proteins because they carry out the cell death process. One example of a gene that codes for a pro-apoptotic protease is the gene for granzyme, a protease that enters target cells through perforin and induces apoptosis. Granzyme is utilized by NK cells and killer T cells to execute the cell death program in target cells.