Question

Write a short note on digestive enzymes.

Answer 1

• Digestive enzymes are present within the digestive juices and they help in breaking down of large food molecules into simpler components.
  
• The four important types digestive enzymes are:-
• 1) Proteases and peptidases (pepsin, trypsin) are the enzymes present in the gastric juice and pancreatic juices which split proteins into small peptides and amino acids.
• 2) Lipases are present in the pancreatic juices which split fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
• 3) Amylases are present in the saliva and pancreatic juices which split carbohydrates (starch and sugars) into simple sugars (glucose).
• 4) Nucleases are present in the pancreatic juice is responsible for splitting the nucleic acids into nucleotides.
• Carboxypeptidase is also a digestive enzyme produced in the pancreas and present in the pancreatic juice which is secreted into the small intestine.
• The action of pepsin on proteins gives peptones and amino acids and not protease.