What Part of the Digestive System Digests Protein?
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Solution
Proteins:
The digestive system is the part of the body that breaks complex molecules into simpler ones.
Anatomically, the digestive system is made up of the gastrointestinal tract, along with accessory organs such as the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder.
Proteins are digested in the stomach and duodenum of the small intestine.
The main enzymes that catalyze protein digestion are pepsin secreted in the stomach and trypsin, chymotrypsin, and carboxypeptidase secreted from the pancreas.
This breakdown of proteins into shorter polypeptides and dipeptides, which are further acted on by various dipeptidases and exopeptidases to amino acids in the duodenum.
The complete breakdown of proteins takes place in the small intestines.