Enzyme-Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Peptides Amide Bonds

4 Enzyme-Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Peptides (Amide Bonds) 

Serine proteases, which consist of trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastase, catalyze the hydrolysis of protein peptide bonds. The net reaction for the enzyme (Enz)-catalyzed hydrolysis of peptide bond (i.e., amide bond) may be expressed as 

The products, XCH(R)COOH and NH2CH(Ri)Y, of enzyme-catalyzed cleavage of peptide bond are expected to react irreversibly to form the ammonium salt, XCH(R)COO+NH3CH(Rj)Y. This extremely fast irreversible reaction does not allow the enzyme to catalyze the formation of peptide bond from amino acids. 

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