Question

What causes protein to denature

Answer 1

Proteins are called macromolecules and are massive; they are made up of one or more long chains of amino acids. Proteins are large, complex molecules that play a variety of important roles in the human body. They are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller units known as amino acids that are connected in long chains.

Complete answer:
The unfolding or breaking up of a protein, which changes its normal three-dimensional structure, is known as denaturation. Chemical activity, heat, or agitation may denature proteins, causing them to unfold or their polypeptide chains to become disordered, rendering them non-functional.

All proteins have a characteristic shape and structure. If the proteins lose their characteristic shape and size, they will also lose their functionality. Therefore, anything that disrupts the shape and structure of the protein will denature it.

Denaturation is the unfolding or breaking up of a protein, which alters the usual three-dimensional structure. Proteins may be denatured by chemical activity, heat, or agitation, which causes them to unfold or their polypeptide chains to become disordered, making them non-functional.

Temperature, pH, salinity, and solvent polarity are only a few of the factors that affect a protein's form. The shape (and function) of the protein can change if either one or a combination of these factors differs from natural. Denatured is another term for this shape shift.

Some of the physical agents that cause denaturation are as follows-pressure, radiation, heat etc. Some of the chemical agents that cause denaturation of protein are organic solvents, acids, bases etc.

Note: Pepsin, the enzyme that breaks down protein in the stomach, manages at a very low pH. At higher pHs pepsin's conformation, the way its polypeptide chain is folded up in three dimensions, begins to change. The stomach maintains a very low pH to ensure that pepsin continues to digest protein and does not denature.