Hydrolysis of proteins

Me and my friend were discussing the hydrolysis of proteins into amino acids and were wondering if chicken would break down into amino acids if left for long enough in water.

Reply 1

AsBr2008

Original post

by ilanamacpherson

Me and my friend were discussing the hydrolysis of proteins into amino acids and were wondering if chicken would break down into amino acids if left for long enough in water.

It would require an enzyme, so only if there were enzymes in the water.

Reply 2

Nitrotoluene

Original post

by ilanamacpherson

Me and my friend were discussing the hydrolysis of proteins into amino acids and were wondering if chicken would break down into amino acids if left for long enough in water.

My guess is the presence of enzymes such as proteases.
Instead of breaking down into amino acids, chicken will spoil if it is left in water for too long.

Bye,
Sandro

Reply 3

TypicalNerd

Original post

by ilanamacpherson

Me and my friend were discussing the hydrolysis of proteins into amino acids and were wondering if chicken would break down into amino acids if left for long enough in water.

Very probably. If we assume everything is sterile and that there are no microbes to introduce proteases, the pH and temperature remain constant (i.e neutral pH and ambient temperature), there is no water loss etc etc, in theory the reactions in question should take place, but they will almost certainly be painfully sluggish. There should be a tiny fraction of water molecules with sufficient energy to hydrolyse the peptide bonds and so some decomposition will take place.

In practice, I would expect the process will be quicker due to microbes providing the relevant enzymes, but of course the amino acids (and other nutrients) are likely to be consumed by the microbes and used in various kinds of biological processes. This does assume that the temperature is ambient and the pH isn’t changed significantly.

(edited 1 year ago)

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