Types Of Amylase Enzymes

Hi everyone. In the last post, i had explained what amylase enzymes are involved in. So, today i will introduce the types of amylase enzymes. I was not expecting that there would be different types of amylase enzymes.

Amylase enzymes can be classified into the following 3 types:

1. α-Amylase (a.k.a alpha enzymes; alternate name: 1,4-α-D-glucan glucanohydrolase)
2. β-Amylase (alternate name: 1,4-α-D-glucan maltohydrolase)
3. γ-Amylase (alternate name: 1,4-α-D-glucan glucohydrolase)

Now that i have posted the classification down, i will type down what i have researched. For this post. i will post information regarding α-Amylase.

α-Amylase enzymes are calcium metalloenzymes, which are completely unable to function without calcuim. By acting at random locations along the starch chain, they break down long-chain carbohydrates, finally extracting maltotriose from maltose and amylose, or extracting maltose, glucose and "limit dextrin" from amylopectin. And because it can act anywhere in the substrate, α-Amylase enzymes tend to be faster acting than β-Amylase. In animals (humans included), it is a major digestive enzymes.

So, now we have some background information on α-Amylase enzymes, and now we know that α-Amylase enzymes are major digestive enzymes, we can research on how they are the major digestive enzymes. And as for the background information of the other 2 types of enzymes, they will be posted next week, probably together with the in-depth research on α-Amylase enzymes.