4. State the role of pancreatic juice in digestion of proteins.
The pancreatic juice is secreted by the pancreas and it is a mixture of enzymes such as trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, and carboxypeptidases. These enzymes are inactive and they are required for the process of digestion of proteins.
The role of these enzymes in protein digestion is depicted below
1. Enzyme trypsinogen gets activated into trypsin by an enzyme called enterokinase. This enzyme is secreted by the intestinal mucosa. Trypsin further activates the other enzymes of pancreatic juice such as chymotrypsinogen and carboxypeptidase.
2. Chymotrypsinogen is a milk-coagulating enzyme that converts proteins into peptides.
3. Carboxypeptidase is an enzyme that acts on the carboxyl end of the peptide chain and helps in the release of the last amino acid from the polypeptide chain, thus, aiding protein digestion.