PEPC

Pepsin is one of the main proteolytic enzymes secreted by the gastric mucosa. Pepsin consists of a single polypeptide chain and arises from its precursor, pepsinogen, by removal of a 41 amino acid segment from the N-terminus. Pepsinogen is synthesized in the stomach lining, and hydrochloric acid, also produced by the gastric mucosa, is necessary to convert the inactive enzyme and to maintain the optimum acidity (pH 1-3) for pepsin function. Pepsin is particularly effective in cleaving peptide bonds involving aromatic amino acids. Pepsin shows extremely broad specificity, and although bonds involving...