Discuss the main steps in the digestion of proteins as the food passes through different parts of the alimentary canal.

The digestion of proteins begins in the stomach and is completed in the small intestine. The enzymes that act on proteins are known as proteases.

Digestion in the stomach:

The digestive juice secreted in the gastric glands present on the stomach walls is called gastric juice. The main components of gastric juice are HCl, pepsinogen, and rennin. The food that enters the stomach becomes acidic on mixing with this gastric juice.

The acidic medium converts inactive pepsinogen into active pepsin. The active pepsin then converts proteins into proteases and peptides.

Proteins  Proteoses + Peptides

The enzyme rennin plays an important role in the coagulation of milk.

Digestion in the small intestine:

The food from the stomach is acted upon by three juices present in the small intestine – pancreatic juice and intestinal juice (known as succus entericus).

Action of pancreatic juice

Pancreatic juice contains a variety of inactive enzymes such as trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, and carboxypeptidases. The enzymes are present in an inactivated state. The enzyme enterokinase secreted by the intestinal mucosa activates trypsinogen into trypsin.

TrypsinogenTrypsin + Inactive peptide

The activated trypsin then activates the other enzymes of pancreatic juice.

Chymotrypsinogen is a proteolytic enzyme that breaks down proteins into peptides.

Chymotrypsinogen  Chymotrypsin

Proteins Peptides

Carboxypeptidases act on the carboxyl end of the peptide chain and help in releasing the last amino acids.

PeptidesSmaller peptide chain + Amino acids

Action of bile juice

Bile juice has bile salts such as bilirubin and biliverdin which break down large, fat globules into smaller globules so that pancreatic enzymes can easily act on them. This process is known as emulsification of fats. Bile juice also makes the medium alkaline and activates lipase. Lipase then breaks down fats into diglycerides and monoglycerides.

Action of intestinal juice

Intestinal juice contains a variety of enzymes. Pancreatic amylase digests polysaccharides into disaccharides. Disaccharidases such as maltase, lactase, sucrase, etc., further digest the disaccharides.

The proteases hydrolyse peptides into dipeptides and finally into amino acids.

 Amino acids

Pancreatic lipase breaks down fats into diglycerides and monoglycerides.

The nucleases break down nucleic acids into nucleotides and nucleosides.