Does pepsin break protein into peptides or polypeptides?
 

I need to know this for a bio test and am not sure which it is. Thanks!

Pepsin is an enzyme whose zymogen (pepsinogen) is released by the chief cells in the stomach and that degrades food proteins into peptides.

Re: Does pepsin break protein into peptides or polypeptides?
 

Pepsin is relatively non-specific although it does have a preference for cleaving after hydrophobic amino acids in protein,peptide, polypeptide . Pepsin breack peptide bond between hydrophobic peptide like phenylalanine, tryptophan, Tyrosine.

Pepsin will also preferentially cleave at the carboxyl side of phenylalanine and leucine and to a lesser extent at the carboxyl side of glutamic acid residues.Amidation of the C-terminal carboxyl group prevents hydrolysis by pepsin.

or e.g. :- Pepsin Cleaves Phe1-Val, Gln4-His, Glu13-Ala, Ala14-Leu, Leu15-Tyr, Tyr16-Leu, Gly23-Phe, Phe24-Phe and Phe25-Tyr bonds in the B chain of insulin.


Regards