Question

Describe in detail how enzymes function to digest protein in the alimentary canal.

Answer 1

Hint: Enzymes are the proteins that act as biological catalysts (biocatalysts). The catalysts help in accelerating chemical reactions. Molecules on which enzymes may act are termed as substrates, and there is the enzyme that converts the substrates into molecules called products. The enzymes are proteins consisting of one or more polypeptide chains. The enzymes also have an active site that provides a unique chemical environment, made up of certain amino acid R groups.

Complete answer:
In the alimentary canal, the digestion of protein mainly takes place in the stomach and the small intestine. A huge number of enzymes are secreted to take care of digestion.
 Digestive glands that are present in the stomach are also known as gastric glands which secrete gastric juices that are acidic in nature.The pepsinogen is an enzyme which can get converted into pepsin in presence of HCL and Prorenin is inactivated which also gets converted into Rennin. It is an active form of the enzymes and the proteins are digested to form polypeptides and oligopeptides.
The intestinal glands also secrete the intestinal juices which helps in converting the polypeptides into an amino acid. It also has the enzyme trypsinogen in inactive form and the enterokinase acting on it to convert it into trypsin which aids in protein digestion.The protein source then goes to our stomach where hydrochloric acid and enzymes called proteases cleaves them into smaller chains of amino acids.The amino acids are always joined together by peptides, which are broken by proteases. From the stomach, the smaller chains of amino acids move into your small intestine.

Note: Enzymes are produced naturally in the body. As an example, enzymes that are required for proper digestive system function. In it the digestive enzymes are mainly produced in the pancreas, stomach, and small intestine.The enzymes serve as catalysts to many biological processes, so they are not used up in reactions and they may be recovered and reused. But, in the setting of a laboratory, the reactions involving enzymes can leave the enzyme unrecoverable. This process results in making the enzyme at once less reactive but more stable.