Enzymes In Hydrolysis: 7 Interesting Facts

This article illustrate all around information on enzymes in hydrolysis with different facts in detail.

The hydrolysis reaction mainly depends on the catalytic activity of the enzyme, that can break the bond between the molecule and play a very important role to convert compound into soluble or simpler forms.

Do enzymes help in hydrolysis reactions?

The word enzymes in hydrolysis, in which hydro means water and lysis means breakdown.The breakdown of bond between the molecule due to the catalytic activity of hydrolytic enzymes.

The enzyme in hydrolysis helps to break down the bond of different biological compounds such as lipid, protein, and carbohydrates into simpler amino acids, glucose, disaccharide, and monosaccharide compounds. The enzyme makes a very rigid and complex structure like starch, Polysaccharides, into a simple and soluble form via the help of different types of hydrolase enzymes. For that, enzymes must have their biological catalytic activity as well as hydrolase activity for the reaction.

How do enzymes cause hydrolysis?

The enzymes in hydrolysis ,there are different types of enzymes can hydrolyze the complex structure of different types of molecules such as protein, lipid, and carbohydrates into very simple and soluble forms and are also able to do different biological catalytic reactions.

Hydrolysis
General reaction of hydrolysis
Image from Wikipedia

Hydrolase enzymes are catabolic enzymes which can able to the chemical bond between atoms of large molecules in to the smaller and soluble form. There are different kind of enzymes are involve in hydrolysis such as Proteases, nucleases, amylases, helicases, lipase.

The reaction of enzyme in the presence of water are as follows

A–B + H2O → A–OH + B–H.

When are enzymes involved in hydrolysis?

The enzymes in hydrolysis are come in different classes according to their EC number, one kind of numerical sytem. Here the full form of EC is enzyme commission number such as, EC 1 which is the number of an enzyme oxidoreductase, similarly for,EC 2 for Transferase, EC 3 for Hy drolases,EC 4 for Lyase, EC 5 for Isomerase, EC 6 for Ligase, etc.

Here the enzyme hydrolases also subclassified into, hydrolyzing ether bonds, hydrolyzing carbon-nitrogen bonds, carbon-carbon bonds, hydrolyzing glycosidic bonds, hydrolyzing ester bonds, and so on.

What enzymes are used in hydrolysis?

There are different kind of enzymes in hydrolysis such as Proteases, nucleases, amylases, helicases, lipase.For example ,the glycogen phosphorylase with breaks glycosidic linkage with water. The reaction which splits off glucosyl units from the non-reducing termini of glycogen is a phosphorylitic cleavage. A phosphorylase catalyses phosphorolysis. for example, cleavage by a molecule of phosphate.

A hydrolase catalyzes hydrolysis , and cleavage by a molecule of water. Another example is amylase which can able to break the glycosidic bond and convert starch in to sugar. This hydrolase enzyme is the type of glycoside hydrolase.

1920px Glycoside hydrolase mech.svg
Reaction catalysed by glycoside hydrolase
Image from Wikipedia

Another example is Phosphatase, which can break or remove the moiety of phosphate and convert nucleotide into nucleoside. This hydrolase enzyme is also involved in the process of gluconeogenesis. Some other examples of phosphatases are fructose 1,6 bisphosphatase and glucose 6 phosphatases.

Protease converts large peptides into smaller molecules or amino acids. It can able to hydrolyze the bond via their catalytic reaction. There are different examples of proteases that act as hydrolases elastase, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and pepsin. Lipase is also one type of hydrolase enzyme and can able to catalyze reactions for the hydrolysis of fat. Examples are lysosomal lipase and pancreatic lipase. All types of enzymes are mainly responsible for the breakdown of carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, proteins, etc.

1024px Glucosidase enzyme
The enzyme in hydrolysis example
Image from Wikipedia

Role of enzymes in the hydrolysis

  • The enzymes in hydrolysis can break different kinds of bonds to convert large molecules into smaller such as peptide bonds, ester bonds, carbon bonds, etc.
  • The hydrolysis reaction mainly depends on the catalytic activity of the enzyme, it will either increase the ability of water to attack the peptide bond called nucleophilicity or increase the peptide bond to be attacked by water which is known as electrophilicity.
  • Hydrolase enzymes are catabolic enzymes that can able to the chemical bond between atoms of large molecules into a smaller and soluble form.
  • The enzyme hydrolysis also helps to break down or digest complex protein into simpler amino acid compounds. Different types of enzymes can hydrolyze the complex structure of different types of molecules such as protein, lipid, and carbohydrates into very simple and soluble forms and are also able to do different biological catalytic reactions.

Enzymes in the hydrolysis of proteins

The proteins are formed by the condensation reactions between the amino group and carboxylic group of aminoacids which is linked by an amide group and all the chains of amino acids are connected through the peptide bond. During the hydrolysis reaction, the enzyme binds with the water molecule and peptide bond and it allows the water molecule to break the bond.

The hydrolysis reaction mainly depends on the catalytic activity of the enzyme, it will either increase the ability of water to attack the peptide bond called nucleophilicity or increase the peptide bond to be attacked by water which is known as electrophilicity.

There are many enzymes which are act on proteins.

Digestive Enzymes.svg 2
The enzymes in hydrolysis example
Image from Wikipedia

The most common enzyme in hydrolysis is a protease, some other proteolytic enzymes that are produced naturally in the human digestive system such as trypsin can activate protein digestive enzyme protease to break and convert protein into tripeptide, dipeptide, and simpler aminoacids. another example is chymotrypsin and pepsin. It helps to break down or digest complex proteins into simpler amino acid compounds. Some proteins also undergo a post-translational mechanism and that is also accomplished by a wide range of enzymes.

Enzymes in the hydrolysis of carbohydrates

The carbohydrates are always present in a very complex form. It cannot able to digest directly without breaking them. There  are different types of enzymes in hydrolysis are play a very important role to convert complex carbohydrates into soluble or simpler forms. Enzymes are Amylase, Lactase, Maltase, Sucrase, etc. During the hydrolysis reaction, the long sugar chains such as polymers are broken down into individual sugars means monomers.

There are complex carbohydrates such as polysaccharides are types of carbohydrates which consist of several sugar molecules bonded together that digest very slowly compared to simple carbohydrates. There are different types of carbohydrate such as,

  1. Polysaccharide- cellulose, starch, and glycogen
  2. Disaccharide- Lactose,maltose,sucrose
  3. Monosaccharide- Fructose, Galactose and Glucose

After the hydrolysis or digestion of carbohydrate are convert into simple sugars such as glucose, fructose, and galactose that can easily be absorbed into the bloodstream.

Conclusion

Due to the activity of enzymes in hydrolysis, the longer, complex and rigid structure of different compounds or long sugar chains such as polymers can break down into individual simple sugars, amino acids and simple molecules.

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