Definition of proenzyme in English:
proenzyme
noun prəʊˈɛnzʌɪmprōˈenˌzīm
Biochemistry A biologically inactive substance which is metabolized into an enzyme.
Example sentencesExamples
- 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.
- All caspases, which are initially inactive proenzymes, share the same processing scheme to achieve mature forms after cleavage at specific Asp sites.
- Covalent modification of pre-existing pools of inactive proenzymes produces active enzymes.
- These death proteases are part of a proteolytic cascade activating proenzymes into active proteases.
- In the case of the serine proteases, they are synthesized as proenzymes, larger molecules that require modification before they become active.