An exopeptidase is any

peptidase A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the for ...

that catalyzes the cleavage of the terminal (or the penultimate)

peptide bond In organic chemistry, a peptide bond is an amide type of covalent chemical bond linking two consecutive alpha-amino acids from C1 (carbon number one) of one alpha-amino acid and N2 (nitrogen number two) of another, along a peptide or protein cha ...

; the process releases a single

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha ...

dipeptide A dipeptide is an organic compound derived from two amino acids. The constituent amino acids can be the same or different. When different, two isomers of the dipeptide are possible, depending on the sequence. Several dipeptides are physiological ...

or a

tripeptide A tripeptide is a peptide derived from three amino acids joined by two or sometimes three peptide bonds. As for proteins, the function of peptides is determined by the constituent amino acids and their sequence. The simplest tripeptide is glycine ...

from the peptide chain. Depending on whether the amino acid is released from the amino or the carboxy terminal (

N-terminus The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the ami ...

C-terminus The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When the protein i ...

), an exopeptidase is further classified as an aminopeptidase or a carboxypeptidase, respectively. Thus, an

aminopeptidase Aminopeptidases are enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of amino acids from the amino terminus ( N-terminus) of proteins or peptides (exopeptidases). They are widely distributed throughout the animal and plant kingdoms and are found in many sub ...

, an enzyme in the

brush border A brush border (striated border or brush border membrane) is the microvilli-covered surface of simple cuboidal and simple columnar epithelium found in different parts of the body. Microvilli are approximately 100 nanometers in diameter and thei ...

of the

small intestine The small intestine or small bowel is an organ (anatomy), organ in the human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract where most of the #Absorption, absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intes ...

, will cleave a single amino acid from the amino terminal, whereas

carboxypeptidase A carboxypeptidase ( EC number 3.4.16 - 3.4.18) is a protease enzyme that hydrolyzes (cleaves) a peptide bond at the carboxy-terminal (C-terminal) end of a protein or peptide. This is in contrast to an aminopeptidases, which cleave peptide b ...

, which is a

digestive enzyme Digestive enzymes are a group of enzymes that break down polymeric macromolecules into their smaller building blocks, in order to facilitate their absorption into the cells of the body. Digestive enzymes are found in the digestive tracts of anima ...

present in pancreatic juice, will cleave a single amino acid from the carboxylic end of the peptide. Some examples of exopeptidases include: *

Carboxypeptidase A Carboxypeptidase A usually refers to the pancreatic exopeptidase that hydrolyzes peptide bonds of C-terminal residues with aromatic or aliphatic side-chains. Most scientists in the field now refer to this enzyme as CPA1, and to a related pancre ...

- cleaves C-terminal Phe, Tyr, Trp, or Leu *

Carboxypeptidase B Carboxypeptidase B (, ''protaminase'', ''pancreatic carboxypeptidase B'', ''tissue carboxypeptidase B'', ''peptidyl-L-lysine -arginineydrolase'') is a carboxypeptidase that preferentially acts upon basic amino acids, such as arginine and lysine ...

- cleaves C-terminal Lys or Arg *

Aminopeptidase Aminopeptidases are enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of amino acids from the amino terminus ( N-terminus) of proteins or peptides (exopeptidases). They are widely distributed throughout the animal and plant kingdoms and are found in many sub ...

- cleaves any N-terminal amino acid * Prolinase - cleaves N-terminal Pro from dipeptides * Prolidase - cleaves C-terminal Pro from dipeptides

External links

References

EC 3.4 Enzymes {{hydrolase-stub

See also

External links

References