Protein Degradation
Proteolytic cleavage breaks down proteins in food extracellularly into smaller peptides and amino acids so that they may be absorbed and used by an organism. Proteins in cells are also constantly being broken down into amino acids. This intracellular degradation of protein serves a number of functions - it removes damaged and abnormal protein and prevent their accumulation, and it also serves to regulate cellular processes by removing enzymes and regulatory proteins that are no longer needed. The amino acids may then be reused for protein synthesis.
Read more about this topic: Proteolysis
Famous quotes containing the words protein and/or degradation:
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