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| Amylase |
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An amylase is an enzyme that breaks starch down into sugar. Amylase
is present in human saliva, where it begins the chemical process of
digestion. Foods that contain much starch but little sugar, such as
rice and potato, taste slightly sweet as they are chewed because
amylase turns some of their starch into sugar in the mouth. The
pancreas also makes amylase (alpha amylase) to hydrolyse dietary
starch into di- and trisaccharides which are converted by other
enzymes to glucose to supply the body with energy. Plants and some
bacteria also produce amylase. As diastase, amylase was the first
enzyme to be discovered and isolated (by Anselme Payen in
1833). Specific amylase proteins are designated by
different Greek letters. All amylases are glycoside hydrolases and
act on α-1,4-glycosidic bonds. |
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