Wednesday, 16 June 2010

enzymes - What conditions are necessary for HPL (human pancreatic lipase) to activate?

The protein referred to in the question is encoded by gene PNLIP, pancreatic lipase. From this annotation of the protein, I see that there is a signal peptide from amino acids 1 to 16. Thus, this signal peptide must be cleaved before the protein can be active in its digestion of emulsified triacylglyerides.



A paper describes the structural changes induced in human pancreatic lipase by lowering the pH. The secondary structure of the enzyme is stable within a pH range of 3.0 to 6.5. At this pH, a reversible opening of the lid controlling the access to the active site was observed. So, there is another aspect of activation - pH and the ability to open the enzyme lid so that the fat molecule enters the active site.

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