Atividade enzimatica no suco de abacaxi

Test of Proteolytic Enzyme Concentration in Pineapple Juice Introduction

The aim of this experiment was to test how the concentration of proteolytic enzyme in pineapple juice changes with different days of ripening.
The proteolytic enzymes belong to a large group of enzymes known as proteases or proteinases. Proteases belong to the class of enzymes known as hydrolases, which catalyse the reaction of hydrolysis of various bonds with the participation of a water molecule. Proteases are enzymes that digest long protein chains into short fragments, broken the peptide bonds.
The proteolytic enzymes are found both in animals and in vegetables. In animals, these enzymes have important biological processes, including: protein digestion, the blood clotting, and differentiation of tissues. His role in the digestive process is essential to the absorption because hydrolysing proteins (breaking) into amino acids, it can be absorbed and reused by the body.
On vegetables, proteolytic enzymes are involved in processes of maturation, germination, differentiation and morphogenesis, oxidative stress processes, among others. Some enzymes involved in fruit ripening, such as papain (papaya) and bromelain (pineapple), can be extracted in large quantities and therefore represent a significant economic importance.
On this experiment are possible to measure the concentration of the enzyme (bromelain) present on the juice. At the early stages of fruit development, the presence of the enzyme was very low, but its level increases rapidly and remained high until the ripening (BALDINI et al., 1993).
The proteolytic enzymes also have a wide application commercial / industrial, as part of many laundry detergents and among the three largest groups of industrial enzymes. In food industry, proteolytic enzymes are widely used for softening meat, clarification of beer and softening leather. In the pharmaceutical industry, these proteolytic enzymes are used in medicines for digestibility