Dietary proteins are first broken down to individual amino acids by various enzymes and hydrochloric acid present in the gastro-intestinal tract. These amino acids are further broken down to α-keto acids which can be recycled in the body for generation of energy, and production of glucose or fat or other amino acids. This break-down of amino acids to α-keto acids occurs in the liver by a process known as transamination, which follows a bimolecular ping pong mechanism.
- Mehta, S. Digestion of Dietary Proteins
- Mehta, S. Metabolism of amino acids- bimolecular ping pong mechanism of transamination.
Main article: Protein biosynthesis.
Protein biosynthesis relies on four processes;
Protein anabolism is the process by which protein are formed from amino acids (aka anabolic amino acid synthesis).
Protein catabolism is the process by which proteins are broken down to their amino acids. This is also called proteolysis.
This can be followed by further amino acid degradation.
|This article about metabolism is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|