Examples of pepsin in the following topics:
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- Pepsin, the enzyme that breaks down protein in the stomach, only operates at a very low pH.
- At higher pHs pepsin's conformation, the way its polypeptide chain is folded up in three dimensions, begins to change.
- The stomach maintains a very low pH to ensure that pepsin continues to digest protein and does not denature.
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- Protein digestion is mediated in the stomach chamber by an enzyme called pepsin, which is secreted by the chief cells in the stomach in an inactive form called pepsinogen.
- Hydrochloric acid helps to convert the inactive pepsinogen to pepsin.
- The highly-acidic environment also kills many microorganisms in the food and, combined with the action of the enzyme pepsin, results in the hydrolysis of protein in the food.
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- Proteins are broken down by the enzymes trypsin, pepsin, peptidase and others.
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- These enzymes include amylase, which catalyzes the digestion carbohydrates in the mouth and small intestine; pepsin, which catalyzes the digestion of proteins in the stomach; lipase, which catalyzes reactions need to emulsify fats in the small intestine; and trypsin, which catalyzes the further digestion of proteins in the small intestine.
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- The enzyme pepsin plays an important role in the digestion of proteins by breaking them down into peptides, short chains of four to nine amino acids.