Noun(1) any of a group of compounds that are inactive precursors of enzymes and require some change (such as the hydrolysis of a fragment that masks an active enzyme(2) any of a group of compounds that are inactive precursors of enzymes and require some change (such as the hydrolysis of a fragment that masks an active enzyme) to become active
Noun(1) any of a group of compounds that are inactive precursors of enzymes and require some change (such as the hydrolysis of a fragment that masks an active enzyme(2) any of a group of compounds that are inactive precursors of enzymes and require some change (such as the hydrolysis of a fragment that masks an active enzyme) to become active
(1) Protein digestion begins in the stomach, where a proenzyme called pepsinogen is secreted, autocatalytically converted to Pepsin A, and used for the first step of proteolysis.(2) These death proteases are part of a proteolytic cascade activating proenzymes into active proteases.(3) Covalent modification of pre-existing pools of inactive proenzymes produces active enzymes.(4) In the case of the serine proteases, they are synthesized as proenzymes , larger molecules that require modification before they become active.(5) All caspases, which are initially inactive proenzymes , share the same processing scheme to achieve mature forms after cleavage at specific Asp sites.
