Question

What is the function of Trypsin?

Answer 1

Trypsin is a pancreatic enzyme that is secreted in order to facilitate digestion in the small intestine. Trypsin is a serine protease of PA super-family. It is found in higher vertebrates and helps in hydrolysis of other proteins in the digestive system. Trypsin works well at an optimum pH of 8.

Complete answer:
The stomach stores the food for 4-5 hours. The food mixes thoroughly with the acidic digestive juice of the stomach by the churning movements of its muscular wall and is named the chyme. Pepsinogen is converted into pepsin when it comes in contact with HCl. Hcl also converts ferric ions into ferrous form which makes the absorption of iron possible. Renin is found in gastric juice of infants which helps in the digestion of milk proteins.
Various sorts of movements are generated by the muscularis layer of the tiny intestine. These movements help in a thorough mixing up of the food with various secretions in the intestine and thereby facilitate digestion.
The bile, pancreatic juice and the intestinal juice or succus entericus are secretions released into the small intestine. Pancreatic juice and therefore the bile are released through the hepato-pancreatic duct.
The pancreatic juice contains inactive enzymes such as trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, procarboxypeptidase, amylases, lipases and nucleases. Trypsinogen is activated by another enzyme Enterokinase which converts it into Trypsin, an active form. Trypsin, in turn, activates the other enzymes in the pancreatic juice. In predatory animals, trypsin can hydrolyse fibrinogen of blood into fibrin leading to blood coagulation, but is unable to coagulate the milk proteins. Trypsin cannot hydrolyse keratins. Proteins, peptones and proteoses are converted into dipeptides with the help of trypsin, chymotrypsin and carboxypeptidase.

Note:
Chymotrypsin is another milk coagulating enzyme and can hydrolyse casein into paracaseinate which then coagulates to form calcium paracaseinate. Also, do not get confused between Renin and Rennin. The former is a hormone produced by Liver and is involved in the Renin-Angiotensin system whereas the latter is a proteolytic enzyme found in gastric juice of infants to digest milk proteins.