|
Visit our new topic page about
trypsin
|
trypsin
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008
trypsin enzyme that acts to degrade protein ; it is often referred to as a proteolytic enzyme, or proteinase. Trypsin is one of the three principal digestive proteinases, the other two being pepsin and chymotrypsin . In the digestive process, trypsin acts with the other proteinases to break down dietary protein molecules to their component peptides and amino acids. Trypsin continues the process of digestion (begun in the stomach) in the small intestine where a slightly alkaline environment (about p H 8) promotes its maximal enzymatic activity. Trypsin, produced in an inactive form by the pancreas, is remarkably similar in chemical composition and in structure to the other chief pancreatic proteinase, chymotrypsin. Both enzymes also appear to have similar mechanisms of action; residues of histidine and serine are found in the active sites of both. The chief difference between the two molecules seems to be in their specificity, that is, each is active only against the peptide bonds in protein molecules that have carboxyl groups donated by certain amino acids. For trypsin these amino acids are arginine and lysine, for chymotrypsin they are tyrosine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, methionine, and leucine. Trypsin is the most discriminating of all the proteolytic enzymes in terms of the restricted number of chemical bonds that it will attack. Good use of this fact has been made by chemists interested in the determination of the amino acid sequence of proteins; trypsin is widely employed as a reagent for the orderly and unambiguous cleavage of such molecules.
Author not available, TRYPSIN.,
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press
Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research
|
AMINO ACIDS & BODYBUILDING
Joe Weider's Muscle & Fitness; 4/1/1996; Barry Finnin; Samuel Peters; 3461 words
; Why do so many bodybuilders know so little about amino acids and protein, the differences in their form and the best times to ingest them? With nothing less than optimal muscle growth at stake time invested in a little research can pay big dividends - both in terms of physical size and dollars
Read more
|
|
Building Fine Chemicals Muscle with Amino Acids.
Chemical Market Reporter; 6/14/1999; Boswell, Clay; 1677 words
; Research and regulatory imperatives are expanding the market for amino acid expertise. The volume of amino acids used in nutritional applications dwarfs that of amino acids used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, but their importance to that value-adding process is growing. Bio-based drug design
Read more
|
|
Icy birth? Amino acids form in simulations of space ice. (This Week).(Brief Article)
Science News; 3/30/2002; Gorman, J.; 565 words
; In another step toward understanding the origin of Earth's biological molecules, two independent laboratory experiments have produced amino acids--the building blocks of proteins--by simulating conditions in icy, interstellar space. The results, published in the March 28 Nature, suggest that some
Read more
|
|
Amino acids 101: protein's building blocks
Natural Foods Merchandiser; 3/1/2005; Hyde-Keller, O'rya; 938 words
; Amino acids, the building blocks of protein, are a common supplement in natural products stores. But what exactly are they and why do we need them? Although more than 80 amino acids exist in nature, only 20 of these combine to create the various proteins in the human body. Nine of these are called
Read more
|
|
Breakthrough for amino acids in beverages.(Ingredients)
Food Trade Review; 6/1/2007; 280 words
; Ajinomoto has announced an important breakthrough in the use of amino acids for beverages. Despite considerable interest in the nutritional benefits of amino acids, their bitter taste has sometimes been an obstacle to creating palatable beverage formulations. However, a team of Ajinomoto scientists
Read more
|
|
|
Rare amino acids support impact theory. (Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary composition)
Science News; 6/10/1989; Monastersky, R.; 580 words
; Rare Amino Acids Support Impact Theory For a decade, geologists and paleontologists have debated whether comet or meteorite impacts 65 million years ago wiped out a large fraction of existing species, including the last surviving dinosaurs. A rival theory holds that terrestrial processes such as
Read more
|
|
Amino acids: heading for drug status?
American Fitness; 11/1/1992; Green, Rod; 1158 words
; While fitness buffs think they're swallowing performance pills, many researchers believe they're courting disaster. Over the past decade, massive doses of amino acids have been touted by some as a natural way to cure health problems. An increasingly health-obsessed public has responded. The dietary
Read more
|
|
Simple Quantitative HPLC Method for Measuring Physiologic Amino Acids in Cerebrospinal Fluid without Pretreatment
Clinical Chemistry; 3/1/2004; Sethuraman, Rama; Lee, Tat Leang; Tachibana, Shinro; 2376 words
; Because the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) bathes the whole central nervous system, its contents reflect changes occurring in the central neurons. Quantitative analysis of amino acids present in CSF has been helpful in improving our understanding of disease conditions associated with pain (1-3). Amino
Read more
|
|
Amino acids: The building blocks of good health
Better Nutrition; 9/1/1999; Adderly, Brenda; 1636 words
; Most people have heard of amino acids as "the building blocks of protein." But that description hardly does them justice. In fact, that phrase and several other terms used in discussions about amino acids have created considerable confusion about these vitally important substances. A clarification
Read more
|
|
Stimulatory and inhibitory effects of protein amino acids on growth rate and efficiency of mixed ruminal bacteria
Journal of Dairy Science; 8/1/2002; Kajikawa, H; Mitsumori, M; Ohmomo, S; 4311 words
; ABSTRACT Mixed ruminal bacteria were incubated in vitro with glucose, xylose, cellobiose, and various protein amino acids replaced isonitrogenously with 25% (i.e., 25 mg of NIL) of ammonia-N, to determine the growth rate and the amount of sugar consumed in the exponential growth phase. The growth
Read more
|
Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses
|
trypsin inhibitors
A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition
trypsin inhibitors Proteins in soya and other beans which inhibit trypsin ; they are denatured and hence inactivated by heating.
Read more
|
|
trypsin
World Encyclopedia
trypsin Digestive enzyme secreted by the pancreas . It is secreted in an inactive form that is converted into active trypsin by an enzyme in the small intestine. It breaks down peptide bonds on the amino acids lysine and arginine. See also alimentary canal ; digestion ; digestive system
Read more
|
|
|
trypsinogen
A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition
trypsinogen The inactive precursor of trypsin , secreted in the pancreatic juice.
Read more
|
|
|
ovomucoid
A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition
ovomucoid A protein of egg-white, 12% of the total solids. It inhibits the digestive enzyme trypsin , but is inactivated by pepsin in the stomach.
Read more
|
|
Control Mechanisms
Biology
... cleavage becomes the digestive enzyme trypsin. Trypsinogen is made in the pancreas and ... called enteropeptidase. The small amount of trypsin made by enteropeptidase then goes on to ... molecules of trypsinogen to make more trypsin as well as cleaving the other pancreatic ...
Read more
|