Question

Amylopsin acts in ____ medium.
(a)Acidic only
(b)Alkaline and acidic
(c)Acidic and alkaline
(d)Slightly acidic and acidic

Answer 1

Hint: Amylopsin is a starch-digesting enzyme and activates in a certain medium. It finishes the digestion of starch to sugar that had begun by the saliva in the mouth. It is quite similar to ptyalin in its power to dissolve carbohydrates.

Complete answer:
Amylopsin is a pancreatic enzyme having a pH of 2 to 3 present in the pancreatic juice and secreted to digest starch. It is mostly activated in alkaline pH and hydrolysis polysaccharides into disaccharides which are mostly maltose. The monosaccharides linked by glycosidic bonds make up polysaccharides and the primary important compounds of these are composed of glucose, they are starch, glycogen, and cellulose. Starch is an energy store in plants and glycogen is an energy store in animals. The acidic polysaccharides have carboxyl groups like pectin and/or sulfuric ester groups like carrageenan. Saccharification is the hydrolysis of polysaccharides to soluble sugars. The malt which is made from barley is helpful to be a source of beta-amylase to break starch into the disaccharide maltose and this is used to produce beer from yeast. A few amylase enzymes convert starch to glucose or oligosaccharides.

So, the correct answer is ‘Alkaline and acidic’.

Note: The pH is a scale measure helpful to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution and the range goes from 0 to 14. The pH is said to be neutral when it is 7 and pure water at room temperature has this value. The pH is said to be acidic below 7 and basic above 7. It can be measured using electrochemical measuring systems, litmus paper, indicators, and colorimeters.