Papain: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 73: | Line 73: | ||
Papain digests most proteins, often more extensively than pancreatic proteases. It has a very broad specificity and is known to cleave peptide bonds of basic amino acids and leucine and glycine residues, but prefers amino acids with large hydrophobic side chains. This non-specific nature of papain's hydrolase activity has led to its use in many and varied commercial products. It is often used as a meat tenderizer because it can hydrolyze the peptide bonds of collagen, elastin, and actomyosin. It is also used in contact lens solution to remove protein deposits on the lenses and marketed as a digestive supplement. <ref name="Web MD"> Finally, papain has several common uses in general biomedical research, including a gentle cell isolation agent, production of glycopeptides from purified proteoglycans, and solubilization of integral membrane proteins. It is also notable for its ability to specifically cleave IgG and IgM antibodies above and below the disulfide bonds that join the heavy chains and that is found between the light chain and heavy chain. This generates two monovalent Fab segments, that each have a single antibody binding sites, and an intact Fc fragment.<ref name="Worthington" /> | Papain digests most proteins, often more extensively than pancreatic proteases. It has a very broad specificity and is known to cleave peptide bonds of basic amino acids and leucine and glycine residues, but prefers amino acids with large hydrophobic side chains. This non-specific nature of papain's hydrolase activity has led to its use in many and varied commercial products. It is often used as a meat tenderizer because it can hydrolyze the peptide bonds of collagen, elastin, and actomyosin. It is also used in contact lens solution to remove protein deposits on the lenses and marketed as a digestive supplement. <ref name="Web MD"> Finally, papain has several common uses in general biomedical research, including a gentle cell isolation agent, production of glycopeptides from purified proteoglycans, and solubilization of integral membrane proteins. It is also notable for its ability to specifically cleave IgG and IgM antibodies above and below the disulfide bonds that join the heavy chains and that is found between the light chain and heavy chain. This generates two monovalent Fab segments, that each have a single antibody binding sites, and an intact Fc fragment.<ref name="Worthington" /> | ||
==Fun Trivia== | ==Fun Trivia== | ||