Proteins are broken down into amino-acids by digestion.This involves the breaking of peptide bonds between amino-acid residues by hydrolytic enzymes called proteases.In the stomach, pepsin works at a low pH and is an endopeptidase which breaks peptide bonds within protein molecules.Trypsin is an endopeptidase secreted by the pancreas into the small intestine to break peptide bonds within polypeptides.Dipeptidases break down dipeptides into single amino-acids.Hydrolysis is the breaking of a covalent bond by the addition of a water molecule.
Proteases
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Specification: OCR Biology A (H020), AS-level, 2.1.4 Enzymes. Topic: Enzymes.
Key terms in this lesson
- hydrolysis
- A reaction that breaks a covalent bond between two molecules by adding a water molecule.
- peptide bond
- The covalent bond formed between two amino acids by a condensation reaction.